Generation of Sannin
by Novrier
Summary: Summary: A new person joins Naruto and the others on the day of graduation. What effect will he have on the others?
1. Chapter 1

GENERATION OF SANNINS

General declaimer. I do not own Naruto or any of it's characters.

Summary: A new person joins Naruto and the others on the day of graduation. What effect will he have on the others?

Pairings are already decided.

The new character will be a very strong ninja (but not a walking god) and I tried to make him original, with his own fighting style, his own arsenal of jutsus, though he will use those seen in the manga.

Chapter 1 A new face

Naruto entered the classroom wearing his new forehead protector. He wasn't the first to class, the usually dark and moody Uchiha was already here, so was an always lazy Shikamaru Nara. When Naruto entered he raised his head.

"Hey Naruto, only those who graduated should be here."

"Open your eyes, does this ring a bell?" Naruto pointed at his forehead protector.

"Troublesome"

Uchiha didn't even aknowledge Naruto being in the class.

Soon the class room was full of people, but everyone went silent as a boy wearing all black entered the class. He was wearing a black full body outfit, consisting of pants, shirt and a chunin type west, only black. Instead of sandals he was wearing up to knees boots. He also had a shoulder pad with a konoha symbol engraved on it as a half cape dropping from his waist up to a little below knees. Two strange looking daggers were strapped to his legs and his face was covered by a mask and a hood, so even his eyes were shadowed. Behind him was Iruka.

"Ok class, or should I say Genin, today you will be assighned to a team of three people and a jounin sensei, I must also tell you that this young man will be joining you as he was personally tested by Hokage-sama and was found worthy of being a Konoha shinobi. He spent most of all his life out of Konoha training, so I'd like you to welcome him."

The masked boy stepped forward and pulled down his mask revealing a simple face with brown hair and blue eyes. He raised his hand:

"Hey everybody, name's Anre, Rakizi Anre."

The class mumbled something as a greeting , so Iruka told him to take a seat. Naturally the only free place was by Naruto.

"Hey, what's your name?" the kid in black asked, his mask raised again.

"Hi I am Naruto Uzumaki, the future Hokage." The blonde answered with his usual wide grin.

"Hokage huh? Well that is certainly a goal worthy of achieving, I wish you luck on that, as for my name I suppose you heard it."

Naruto nodded, a little surprised that the kid didn't laugh at his dream.

"Ok, silence everybody, time for team assighments." The class immediately went silent.

"Now, team seven will be Naruto Uzumaki…" Naruto raised his head.

"….Haruno Sakura.…" The pinked haired girl lowered her head, when as Naruto raised his hand in triumph.

"….and Uchiha Sasuke, your sensei will be Hatake Kakashi." Now the reactions were opposite, when as Sasuke stayed still, not revealing his opinion.

"Now, team eight will be Izunuka Kiba, Huuga Hinata and Aburame Shino, sensei will be Yuhi Kurenai. Team nine is still in action, so we will move to team ten. Yamanako Ino, Akimichi Chouji and Nara Shikamaru, sensei will be Sarutobi Asuma." After this announcement the blond girl slammed her head on the table.

"Anre will be assighned as a special genin witch will join other teams on more dangerous missions, but he will train together with team seven." The kid in black nodded.

Now Uchiha wasn't so calm: "Iruka – sensei, how come the new kid gets such a position."

"Well Sasuke, Hokage found his skills far surpassing yours, so that is the deal." Now the whole class was staring at a new kid.

"Ok, that is it, now I will leave, your senseis should be here soon."

In the next half an hour team ten and team eight were picked up. Anre noticed that a shy blue haired girl glanced at Naruto and blushed. "_Hmm, intresting_."

New team seven and the new special genin were the only ones left. Sasuke was glaring at the new kid, he still thought that he deserved his position more. Anre didn't pay any attention though, he soon took a small scroll out of his pocket and started drawing strange symbols.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Naruto asked.

"Oh, this, well this is necessary for a jutsu I use."

"Oh, I get it, what does it do?"

"It gives a persons mind an order he cannot refuse, unless he has an extremely powerfull force of will."

"Cool, can I learn to do that?"

The pinked haired girl started to laugh: "You Naruto? You can't make a proper clone."

"Actually he has more chance of learning it than you."

"Huh? Why is that."

"It takes lots of chakra, I can sence that with your chakra capacity you will end up in hospital after performing it, when as Naruto has an immence chakra pool."

Sakura was taken back. "How can you tell?"

"I can sense chakra signatures and his is overwhelming."

"oh."

For the next two and a half hours they were silent, the only time something happened was when Anre stopped Naruto from playing a prank by placing an eraser between the door and the wall.

Several minutes later the door opened and a man with silver hair and his forehead protector over his left eye came in.

"Yo, you team seven?" Suddenly a kunai was impaled in a wall next to his head.

"You know, you are late." Anre still had his hand raised after a throw, while his other was still working on his scroll." Sakura and Naruto looked at him with wide eyes, even Sasuke raised a brow.

"Well, you see I was lost on the road called life and…."

A second kunai was impaled into the wall on the other side of the jounins head. He and Anre were the only calm now.

"You realize that is a lame excuse."

"Whoah, temper, temper."

"I am perfectly calm sensei, as you can see."

"Fine, meet me at the roof guys." With that he dissapeared in a puff of smoke. The genin started moving towards the door. Anre on the other hand rolled up his scroll and disappeared in a puff of smoke just like their sensei.

"Man, I just have to learn how to do that." Naruto mumbled.

When the new team seven made it to the roof they saw their sensei sitting on the rail surrounding the roof, when as Anre was sitting on the bench in the middle. The genin took seat next to him.

"So, lets introduce each other, tell me your likes, dislikes, hobbies."

"Umm sensei, why don't you go first, we don't really know anything about you." Sakura spoke up.

"Well, I guess that is fair. My name is Hatake Kakashi. There are some things I like and there are tons of things I dislike, I have no intention to tell you my dreams, I have a few hobbies."

The genin shared the confused look, as the only thing they learned was his name.

"Ok, you first pinky."

Sakura scowled at a nickname, but still answered. "My name is Haruno Sakura, I like…." She glanced at Sasuke and giggled. "… well my dream is…." Same reaction. "I hate Naruto." Naruto lowered his head.

"Not very wise to hate your own teammate." Anre spoke.

"Huh? Why is that?"

"imagine the situation, where your life depends on him, and now think, will he help you after what you just said, or not? I wouldn't, though I would never say something like that about my teammate." Sakura was pulled back by that comment. Kakashi was also surprised, but didn't show it.

"Well, he is right Sakura, but we will discuss it later, now your turn Naruto."

"Oh, my name is Naruto Uzumaki, I like ramen, I hate three minutes it takes to cook ramen, and my dream is to become the greatest Hokage."

"Ok, now you." Kakashi pointed at Sasuke.

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I don't really like anything, there are tons of thing I dislike. I also have something I wouldn't call a dream, but an ambition, I want a certain man dead and I want to recreate the Uchiha clan."

"Hmm, ok, your turn."

"My name is Anre, I enjoy learning new jutsus. I hate to kill, but I do when necessary, I also hate ignorant people who disrespect others, those I might kill without any regrets…. " Sakura gulped after that comment and decided it was for the better to apologise to Naruto. "…. As for my dreams, they belong only to me."

Kakashi nodded. "_Great, I have a fangirl, a brooding avenger, a ramen addict and a killer, great, it is just not my day._"

"Hey, you mean you already killed somebody?" Naruto looked freaked out.

"Indeed I have, but don't worry you are not on my list." Anre smiled and Naruto breathed out being relieved.

"Ok, now to the team business, tomorrow we will have a small test to see if you all are fit to be genin. Meet me tomorrow at 8.00 at training ground 7, and don't eat."

"Why's that?" Sakura asked.

"You'll puke."

"Hey guys!" Naruto just came to the training field, as everyone else were already there.

"Hi, Naruto." Anre greeted, he was sitting under a tree working on the same scroll as yesterday. Sakura just waved her hand, Sasuke didn't even look at Naruto.

"So where is Kakashi?"

Sakura shrugged her shoulders. "Um Naruto, about yesterday, I didn't mean it." She threw a quick look at Anre.

"Oh, no matter Sakura – chan."

Tree hours later Kakashi finally showed up. His team looked VERY bored. Sasuke looked like he was on verge of destroying something. Anre on the other hand was still drawing.

"Yo!" As yesterday a kunai flew throught the air and got impaled into a tree not too far from Kakashis head.

"Don't even try to lie, just lets get to work." Anre rolled up his scroll.

"Fine." Kakashi pulled out two bells. "Your mission is to get these two bells. Those who don't one will be tied up to a stump over there and be forced to see me eat lunch. Naruto's stomack suddenly growled. "Oh and almost forgot, those who don't get the bells will go back to the academy."

"Sensei, there are only two bells." Sakura mentioned.

"Right, so two of you will fail one way or another. Now, begin. You have three hours." Kakashi placed an alarm clock on the tallest stump.

Sasuke and Sakura immediately hid themeselves, but Naruto and Anre remained standing. Anre slowly put his mask and Hood back on and whispered something in Narutos ear. Several seconds later Narutos mouth widened into a grin.

"Well this is new, you two, you think you will be able to take me by direct assault." Kakashi said pulling out a small orange book.

The two boys didn't answer, only Naruto suddenly pulled out a smoke bomb and threw it under his legs. Soon both figures were covered in smoke.

"Please, you think it will work." Kakashi never raised his head from his book. Then several kunai and shuriken flew out of the smoke, but Kakashi deflected them with his own kunai without even stopping reading his book.

"Hey sensei!" Kakashi raised his head, but suddenly a kunai on the ground turned to a flash bomb in a puff of smoke and immediately detonated blinding the masked shinobi. Then another Kunai turned into Naruto who immediately snatched the two bells and threw them into the smoke. When the smoke cleared there were 10 Anre standing each holding two bells.

Kakashi rubbed his eye until he was able to see. When he saw what happened his visible eye widened in shock.

"Well I must admit I didn't expect that, you two are the first who managed to steal a bell, but you made one mistake though." Kakashi grabbed Naruto who was still standing next to him and placed a kunai at his throat. "Now return the bells."

Anre only shook his head. Naruto then smiled "Surprise" and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"A shadow clone!?" kakashi was surprised once again. "Ok. You win."

8 Anre clones disappeared, while the last one transformed into Naruto.

"Teamwork rules." Naruto and Anre gave each other a pad on the back.

"Teamwork? If I am not mistaken there are two more members on team seven ."

"True, but from the information I got yesterday from our little chat I concluded that only Naruto would work together with me. Sasuke considers everyone else unnecessary, while Sakura would only follow Sasuke." Anre said. "You are not the only one who benefited from yesterdays chat, Kakashi - sensei."

"So you realized this was a test to see if you can work as a team."

"It was?" Naruto scratched his head.

Anre and kakasi sweat dropped.

"It wasn't so hard actually, I only had to put two and two together."

"Good, I am impressed. Hey you two, you can come out now." Kakashi yelled turning to the forest. Seconds later Sakura came out looking rather sad, followed by Sasuke who looked mad.

"My, my, I never expected you two to actually fail."

"We never even had a chance." Sasuke protested.

"Hmm, if I recall correctly, nobody in the ninja world will wait for you, but since it is a test, I think I will give you another chance. Give me the bells back." Kakashi ordered.

Anre and Naruto shrugged and handed a bell each to Kakashi who hanged them on his belt once more. But you will not be given extra time, so…."

Sakura ans Sasuke raced of to hide in the woods once more.

"Hey, Sasuke, maybe we should do something similar to what Naruto and Anre did?" sakura whispered to the last Uchiha hiding in a tree.

"I don't need your help, leave me alone." Sasuke began to move away.

He didn't notice Kakashi on another tree shaking his head in disappointment until forming a hands seal. Second later Sakura was captured in a genjutsu that made her see a badly wounded Sasuke crawling down the path. With a scream she fainted. Kakashi jumped down and looked over the girl shaking his head once again.

Several minutes later Kakashi used a substitution to evade a barrage of kunai. Then he was attacked by Sasuke in hand to hand combat.

"You are good, but not good enough." Kakashi said and disappeared. Sasuke began to look around and suddenly got dragged underground leaving only his head above the ground level.

"Humiliating, isn't it?" Kakashi smiled under his mask.

"Get me out of here!"

"Errrr. No, besides I think your time is up." Sasuke heard the clock ring.

Some time later he found himself and Sakura tied to a stump, just like promised. Anre and Naruto were sitting nearby eating lunches.

"Well, I must admit, giving you a chance was really pointless. Sakura, you, I'll admit, atleast had an idea of working together with Sasuke, but why not others? And falling for that genjutsu, please." The girl hung her head.

"Now you, mister rookie of the year. As far as I am concerned you performed the worst. Not even a sign of teamwork. Pathetic." Kakashi shook his head.

"Well, you two can thank Anre and Naruto." Sasuke and Sakura raised their heads. "They got the bells, so I will pass you aswell, but you will have to work to get on my good side. But first I want you to remember this, those who break the rules are trash, but those who leave their comrades behind are even worse than trash. Now we still have some time, so I thought we could train, to see what you three can do."

Sasuke stepped forward. "I want to fight him." He pointed at Anre. Kakashi only shrugged his shoulders. "ok. It's your funeral."

"Kakasi sensei, you can't be serious, Sasuke is the rookie of the year, there is no way he can be beaten."

"He just was, by a new kid and the dead last."

"That doesn't count." Kakashi only shrugged his shoulders again. He Sakura and Naruto stepped back. "You may begin when ready. Remember, only taijutsu."

Sasuke immediately charged at Anre and tried to punch him in the face. To his surprise the fist was caught with an open palm and held steadily. Sasuke noticed that Anre's eyes looked bored. Enraged Sasuke threw another punch, but his fist only met air as Anre sidestepped his punch and grabbed the back of Sasukes head brutally smashing his face into the ground, leaving a perfect faceprint in the dirt. Then he picked him up by his clothes and threw the boy back. Sasuke slowly stood up spitting out the dirt.

"You will pay for that!" he started forming hand seals.

"Sasuke, don't!" Kakashi screamed, but it was too late.

"Fire element: Grand fireball no jutsu." A huge fireball was launched from sasuke's mouth and headed for Anre who simply leaped over it, but Sasuke launched several kunai at his airbone opponent and smirked knowing that while in air he couldn't dodge. But when Anre got hit he turned to water. The real Anre raised from a shadow behind the Uchiha, grabbed his legs and slammed him hard into the tree. Sasuke stood up, but saw Anre infront of him. Sasuke ducked a punch that ripped part of the tree trunk out, then jumped away to avoid a spin kick that tore the tree down. Now Sasuke was sweating bullets. Such power, he couldn't oppose that. Suddenly Sasuke felt someone grab him from behind. He turned around and saw that it was another water clone. Anre approached and punched him in the face. The force of impact sent Sasuke flying, breaking through the water clone and skitting on the ground, until he came to a stop not far from the others.

Sakura immediately rushed to the prone Uchiha and found him out cold.

"Hey, what did you do to him?"

"He asked for it." Anre lowered his mask and his hood.

Kakashi nodded "he really did. I can't believe he tried to kill his teammate."

"So what now?" Naruto asked.

Kakashi shrugged and pulled out his little orange book. "I don't know, I wanted to see a sparr, but this was very one sided, well since Sasuke is out of it, lets just do some exercises, or target practice to pass the time with good cause."

The jounins that had teams assighned to them were assembled in front of the council and hokage.

"Report." Hokage ordered.

Asuma stepped forward. "Team 10 passes with flying colors."

"Any details?"

"The boys have a problem with lazyness, but it can be fixed."

"Good, next?"

Kurenai stepped forward. "Team 8 passed, they are naturals at working as a team, they will most likely be a scout and tracker team."

"Very good, Kakashi."

Kakashi lazily put away his orange book earning a glare from kurenai and stepped forward.

"Team 7 with an addition of a special genin passed, barely."

"Details?"

"Well, the thing is that only two members actually worked as a team and managed to get the bell."

The council member homura stood up. "I assume one of them was a Uchiha, who was the second?"

"Actually Rakizi Anre and Uzumaki Naruto managed to get the bells. Naruto provided shadow clones, while Anre provoded a plan."

"The dead last bested a rookie of the year, somehow doubtful." Homura said.

"I say what I saw. I began too doubt the academy standards if a student who can create scores of shadow clones, use henge on them and not even look tired after that is marked a dead last."

"Still a Uchiha.."

"Uchiha concernes me the most. He indeed is talented, but can't control his emotions, a trait unforgivable for a shinobi. In a spar that followed the test he was paired with Anre and tried to kill him first with a high level fire jutsu and then with thrown kunai. Such behaivior in a taijutsu match is unacceptable. If I had a choice in the matter I would suggest dropping him off the shinobi program."

"He is the last Uchiha, Kakashi, we have to make him a loyal shinobi."

"Then teach and help him Kakashi, for now you are free to go." Sarutobi dismissed the others.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 Mission gone bad.

"You are late!" Sakura and Naruto screamed as the next day their sensei showed up three hours late. Sasuke didn't say anything, while Anre only shook his head.

"Sorry, my alarm clock broke so I had to go buy another one."

"LIAR!" Sakura and Naruto screamed.

"Whatever, lets go get a mission."

"A mission? Yay!" Naruto cheered and got a bump on head from Sakura.

"Boy, you are violent." Anre spoke up.

"Want a taste?" Sakura showed the boy in black her fist.

"Want to exchange a blow? Don't think that being of an opposite gerder will help you." Anre pointed at Sasuke who had a black eye after their little sparr.

"Lest go already." Kakashi said walking away.

"Ahh, team 7 I have a great mission for you?" Hokage smiled.

"What is it? Capture a bandit? Save the noble lady?" Naruto grinned like an idiot.

"No, even better, you will be walking the dogs for the Inuzuka clan, great isn't it?" Sarutobi laughed his head off inside his mind.

"WHAT!?!?!" Naruto screamed.

"D-rank mission Naruto, typical for rookie genin like you." Kakashi explained.

Sarutobi caughed and continued. "And for you Anre a have a C-rank to start with." Hokage handed him a scroll. "All details are inside."

"Why does he get a C-rank?" Sasuke protested, as he wanted a challenge to test his skills.

"He is no rookie and not just a genin Sasuke." Hokage said. "Now proceed to your tasks."

A month later team seven has returned from another D-ranked mission, which involved the returning of a certain cat that they have already caught 4 times this week. Naruto nursed scratches on his face and hands that were rapidly healing.

"Ok, another D-rank completed, now lets see, you can either pull the weeds, buy groceries for the elderly or……." There was a sound of something breaking in the hallway and a cry of "Tora come back!" "…..catch that cat again."

"No!" Naruto crossed his hands on his chest.

"Huh?" hokage looked at him.

"I said no! I am sick of these lousy missions, they are actually chores."

"Naruto! You are only rookies, what did you expect." Said Iruka who was helping Hokage sort the missions.

"Well, how can we get experience if we don't do better missions."

"Naruto!"

"Fine, I'll give you a C-rank mission."

"Hokage are you sure?" both Iruka and Kakashi said in unison, while Naruto was doing a silly dance, until he was stopped by a violent punch from Sakura.

"Don't worry, the risk should be minimal, Kakashi, but just in case Anre will join you for this mission."

Sakura and Sasuke frowned, while Naruto grinned "Sweet, that guy is alright."

"Good, you will meet your employer tomorrow at the city gates, I'll send word to Anre, as for a mission you are to escort the employer to wave country where you will have to protect him until he finishes a construction project there. Dismissed."

With that team 7 left.

The next day they came to the front gates. To their surprise Kakashi was there before they were, minutes later Anre arrived wearing all black as usually. Kakashi then introduced them to their employer who turned out to be a fairly old drunkard.

"What is this? You sent children to protect me, mind as well killing me yourselves to save the trouble."

"Don't worry, they are real ninja and are more than capable to defend you, besides I am a jounin." Kakashi said.

"Alright, but you kids better protect me with your lives, because I am a super important super bridge builder Tazuna." Then he turned to Kakashi again. "Are you sure they are shinobi, especially that blonde kid, because seriously a shinobi wearing orange…."

Anre was forced to physically restrain Naruto from hurting their client while Kakashi reassured him.

"Fine, lets go."

The group set off towards the wave country. Naruto was walking beside Anre and was still grumpy about Tazunas remark.

"You know, Naruto, he has a point, orange is not the best color for a shinobi." Anre mentioned.

"HAHA, told you Naruto!" Sakura punched air in triumph. Anre then turned to her:

"That goes double for pink." Now Sakura scowled at the hooded figure and went back to pestering Sasuke.

Several hours later the group passed a small puddle, but no one paid attention or so thought the two shinobi that raised from it later.

As the group was still walking calmly they attacked. Two chains were wrapped around Kakashi and tore him to pieces.

"One down" one of the attackers yelled.

Then they both tried to hit Sakura who was standing in front of Tazuna, but to their surprise a figure in black appeared in front of the girl and caught both their hands in metal gloves. Shock was written all over their faces as the metal began to crumble under the pressure, then they both cried out in pain as their knuckles were being crushed by Anre. The worst part, was that the eyes of their enemy weren't the eyes of a mere genin, but of a cold blooded killer. Suddenly Anre changed his position getting both enemy hands into a lock, that was followed by a loud snap and two screams of pain.

"Take them out guys." Anre hissed throwing the figures aside, their hands hanging at a strange angle. Sasuke immediately jumped into the air and went through several hand seals:

"Fire element: Grand fireball no jutsu." A huge fireball hit one of the prone figures.

On the other side of the road Naruto made around 10 shadow clones which quikly knocked the weakened enemy out cold.

After the quick battle Kakashi dropped from the tree.

"Kakashi – sensei, you are alive?" Naruto gasped.

"Yep, I used a substitution." He pointed at a sliced up log where his body should be. "You did well team."

"Yeah Sasuke you were great." Sakura cheered at the last Uchiha.

"You are welcome." Anre said walking away making Sakura turn red and feel shallow. It only now crossed her mind that Anre had actually saved her live.

'Umm, Tazuna, Have anything to say?" Kakashi addressed the bridge builder.

"Ok, ok this trip might be more dangerous than I told, you see our country is being ruled by Gato…"

"a famous billioner?"

"Yeah, but he is really a mafia boss, he uses our country as a way for smuggling drugs and other stuff, that is why I decided to build a bridge."

"And naturally that bridge is a threat for him, thus he wants to kill you, this mission is no longer C-rank, it is B-rank at least." Kakashi said.

"Most likely A-rank Kakashi-sensei, with Gato's funds he can hire a very powerful shinobi." Anre remarked.

"True, so it is up to you guys, go on, or go back."

"Hell! I'll go on!" Naruto cried. Sasuke and Anre nodded in agreement and Sakura naturally followed her crush.

"Then it is settled Tazuna, we will protect you, but when your country gets on its feet you will have to pay up the debt."

"oh, no problem there and thank you."

It was getting dark and the group made it way to the river separating the wave and the fire countries.

"Hmm it is late, the fairy isn't working this late in the evening." Tazuna said.

The group started walking down the river to find a shallow spot to cross, eventually they entered a thick mist. Suddenly Kakashi cried out telling everyone to drop. As the shinobi dropped to the ground along with Tazuna who was dragged by Kakashi, a huge sword flew over them and then impailed into a tree. Then a man jumped on its hilt.

"Momochi Zabusa" Kakashi whispered.

"Copy cat Kakashi, sorry but the old man is mine." The mysterious nin replied.

"Guys, stay out of it, this enemy is a totally different level, leave him to me." The genin stepped back and surrounded Tazuna. Kakashi and Zabusa engaged in a violent fight. In the heat of battle they both jumped to the surface of the river.

"You lose Kakashi." The nin whispered forming a seal. Suddenly the water surrounded Kakashi in a sphere, creating sort of a prison, though Zabusa had to keep his hand in it to maintain it.

"Get Tazuna and run!" Kakashi cried.

To his surprise the genin didn't even turn. Zabuza grinned "This is going to be fun." He created a water clone, which now stood between him and the genin.

"Naruto, Sasuke take care of the clone, I will free Kakashi, Sakura stay with Tazuna."

Even Sasuke nodded in agreement. But then they felt massive killer intent coming from Zabusa, rooting them to the spot. Sasuke started raising his kunai to his neck, feeling that it was no use to fight. As he was about to slit his own throat he was stopped by another wave of killer intent, but this one wasn't aimed at him, it was coming from Anre.

The masked boy took a step forward.

"Go!" and he charged jumping over the clone dodging his massive blade. Sasuke snapped out of stupor when he saw Naruto create shadow clones.

Zabusa's eyes were wide with shock and also fear. He leaned back to avoid getting a dagger between his eyes. To say Kakashi was surprised was a serious understatement.

"What is this kid?"

Anre jumped on the water behind Zabusa, who created several more water clones to protect him. Anre went through several hand seals:

"WATER ELEMENT: WATER DRAGON NO JUTSU!" a huge dragon raised from the water and attacked the clones making them disappear along with him in a huge whirlpool.

Zabusa opened his mouth: "How! A child shouldn't have enough chakra for that!"

Anre then pulled a scroll out and unrolled it showing several strange symbols.

"POWER WORD ART: POWER WORD – PAIN!"

Zabusa cried out as he felt like his body was ripped to pieces again and again. The water prison jutsu was released and Kakashi fell into the water, as Anre dropped to his knee breathing heavily, the scroll was now blank.

Kakashi climbed onto the surface and looked at Zabusas body. He then went through several hand seals and created a huge wave that slammed Zabusa into a tree on the shore. But as he was about to go for a kill, two needles flew through the air and hit Zabusa into the neck. The body fell with a loud thud. Then everyone noticed a boy on the tree branch wearing a strange mask. Naruto and Sasuke looked at him puzzled, they have just destroyed the clone.

"What! Who the hell is he and how did he kill Zabusa so easily?" Naruto pointed at the masked nin, who responded in a quiet calm voice:

"Thank you for your help, I was trailing him for a while." The masked nin appeared next to Zabusas body.

"A hunter nin, from the Rain." Kakashi stated.

"You are well informed, now I must take my leave, thank you again." The masked nin took the body and disappeared in whirl of air.

Kakashi then helped Anre stand up, he was still breathing heavily and looked shaken.

"What did you do?" Sasuke demanded .

"Later…" Anre greedily breathed in oxygen.

"Tazuna is it far to your place?" Kakashi asked, now letting Sakura support the exausted genin.

"No, just across the river, but without a boat…."

"Don't worry, give me ten minutes and me and Kakashi – sensei will transport you, you saw that we can walk on water."

Now that he mentioned the others remembered how he, Zabusa, Anre and Kakashi stood on water like on a solid surface.

"Anre, you sure?" Sakura now looked concerned.

"Yeah, just that last jutsu, it takes a ton of chakra, I am down to two thirds of my capacity right now."

"How much does it take?" Kakashi asked.

"Around the same as a boss summon." Kakashi's eye widened, but the rest didn't understand anything.

Soon Anre somewhat recovered and they started to carry others to the other shore. First they transported Tazuna and Sasuke. Sasuke frowned, as he never was so embarrassed as when he was carried by Anre to the other side, but he wasn't into swimming. Next were Naruto and Sakura, the girl blushed like crazy when Anre picked her up bridal style. She was almost sorry when the ride was over.

"_That fell nice… wait… what am thinking??? I like Sasuke-kun_."

Soon they came to a rather big house where they were greated by a lady with long black hair, which turned out to be Tazunas daughter, and a kid that gave ninjas a glare after greeting his grandfather.

"So, father, was your trip safe?"

"Yes, Tsunami, thank to this people here, if it wasn't for them, I'd be long dead."

"Oh, thank you for, but I suppose you are tired, please we have two spare rooms. The girl can stay with me, while you will have to share."

Kakashi nodded: "Ok, I will share with Sasuke and Anre will share with Naruto."

"Ok, that is settled, now the dinner will soon be ready."

"Hmm, first I need to cut the bandages and…."

"Thank you very much, I can do that myself." Zabusa grabbed he hand of the hunter ninja.

"Ahh, you are already awake."

"You were brutal Haku." Zabusa pulled out one of the needles in his neck.

"I had to be convincing."

"Take of that mask already Haku."

Haku took off her hunter ninja mask and smiled softly.

"You know it helped to rescue you and don't pull out those needles like that. You might actually die."

"Hnn. How long till I will be able to move again?"

"A week, that's a minimum."

"Then I have some time to plan. And next time I will win."

"Don't worry Zabusa-sama. Kakashi will not be able to stop you."

"He is not the only thing concerning me. That kid in black, he is a handful. Don't know what was that jutsu he used on me, but it hurt like hell."

Haku shrugged admitting that she had no idea aswell.

"Seems you will have a worthy opponent next time."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 In the land of waves.

Kakashi has taken the genin to the forest, he stopped when they made their way to a small clearing.

"Ok, today we will train, you will learn to climb trees."

"Kakashi – sensei, how is that going to help us?" Naruto asked scratching the back of his head.

"Naruto, you didn't let me finish, you will climb, without using your hands. Observe."

Kakashi started walking up a tree trunk and stopped when he was standing upside down on a tree branch.

"Ok, the trick is to concentrate the chakra at your feet and discharge, creating a stable flow. Remember, you need a certain amount to glue to the trunk. Now take a kunai and mark the place which you managed to climb up to and then try to beat that result."

For the next 15 minutes he observed the progress. He wasn't even surprised when Anre simply walked up a tree to the top, he was able to walk on water, so this was simple for him. Sasuke managed to run up several feet, Naruto at first just slammed to the ground, but now was making steady progress. Sakura managed to climb to the lowest branches, but looked already tired.

"Ok, it seems that among you Anre and Sakura have the best chakra control, so they will protect Tazuna tomorrow, now I am off, you keep training, Anre, you can do whatever you want." Everyone nodded. Team seven started climbing again while Anre was making a new scroll sitting under a tree.

"Hey Anre!" the special genin turned his head and looked at Naruto.

"What?"

"Is there a trick for this?"

"You are to distracted, try to concentrate, don't look at Sasuke's progress."

"Ok, thanks."

Naruto came back to his tree and concentrated with his eyes closed. When he tried the exercise he ran up, beating his previous result by several feet. Anre smiled under his mask.

The next day as expected Anre and Sakura were assighned to a guard duty on the bridge, which could only be described by one word – BORING.

It was also pretty hot. Even Anre took his mask and hood off. He was working on his scroll as usually.

"Why are always drawing something?" Sakura asked.

"I use these scrolls for my jutsus, like when I made Zabusa cry out in pain."

"Yeah, but why the scroll?"

"You see I need to mold chakra in a very special way, using hand seals it would take to much time."

"I see, wish I could do something like that."

"You can, you are a ninja, you can do things most people can't even dream of."

"Yeah, but I am the weakest of the group, I was useless back there."

"No member of the team is useless Sakura, you just need to find your strength."

"Yeah, right, I remember trying doing some jutsus back in the village, I usually was exausted after the first try."

"You tried ninjutsu?"

"Yes."

"Well, it seems that ninjutsu isn't for you."

"What do you mean, what good is a ninja without ninjutsu."

"Ninjutsu takes a lot of chakra and most do not need very good chakra control to perform. For instance, your teammater Naruto has chakra reserves surpassing a kage level, but it is hard to control such a huge amount. So naturally he is a powerhouse, he can learn the most destructive ninjutsu there is. The less chakra you have, the easyer it is to control. You have good chakra control, by your chakra pool is low, so why don't you try genjutsu?"

"You think I could?"

"I think yes, just think genjutsu doesn't need to much chakra , but needs good chakra control, besides you already have a ninjutsu users on your team, but the team sucks in genjutsu. In other words your team has firepower, but has low support capabilities.

"Maybe you are right, can you teach me?"

"Why me?"

"Well I won't lie, you seem stronger than even Sasuke-kun."

"thanks I guess, but I am not a genjutsu expert really, I can only teach you the basics."

"Good enough, I have to start somewhere."

Anre wrapped up the scroll and stood up.

"Ok, lets start."

Sakura stood in front of him.

"Ok, the thing you should now is that genjutsu affects the persons senses: touch, smell, hearing, taste and sight. It makes you believe in something that really isn't there, it creates an illusion. You have to know, what senses will you affect. Now lets try, I will show you a simple yet effective genjutsu."

Anre made a hand seal and suddenly roots came out of the asphalt and bound sakura to the ground. She looked surprised, but understood that this was a genjutsu.

"Ok, what senses does it affect?"

"hmm sight and touch I guess."

"Correct, now mold some chakra into the ram seal and try to release it."

Sakura nodded "Kai!"

The roots immediately became blurry and then disappeared.

"Great, now you try that on me, the seals are rabbit and dragon, the trick is to concentrate and give exactly the needed amount of chakra. The genjutsu is called "entangle"."

Sakura nodded and tried. As she formed the seals several roots burst from the ground and wrapped around Anre's ankles.

"Not bad for a first try, but try giving a little more chakra."

About two hours later Sakura finally began steadily wrapping Anre's figure in roots without making them to big or too small.

"Yee, I did it." She cheered.

"Yeah, you did, I can teach you a couple more, but as I said I am not a specialist in genjutsu, but if you want I can go with you to the library and help you pick some there."

"Oh, I'd like that." Sakura blushed a little, something she has never done before anyone else but Sasuke.

"Ok, then it is settled, but rest for now, even genjutsu takes chakra, but as you noticed you performed it for almost two hours straight and aren't exausted."

"Yeah, I noticed, thanks."

"good, I am glad I could help, I would also advise you to learn atleast some basic medical jutsu, a team needs someone who can treat wounds. Oh and some basic taijutsu, atleast."

"Taijutsu, why?"

"Well, because if an enemy gets close then tecknically…" Anre moved so fast that Sakura's eyes didn't catch the movement. The next second she felt two fingers pressed against her skin from behind: "…..you are as good as dead." Anre finished

"Oh, ok, thanks again, you really aren't that bad."

"Huh what do you mean?"

"Well at first I thought you were an arrogant prick, especially when you slammed Sasuke-kun into the ground."

"You mean back at the bell test?"

"Yeah."

"I understand that he is your teammate, but he really asked to fight. And I really don't appreciate someone trying to fry me with a fire jutsu in an only taijutsu sparr."

"I know, but was it really that necessary to slam him into the ground so hard?"

"Hard? Sakura I could easily crush his head without even breaking a sweat."

"Oh, I see, but still."

"Sakura, what should I have done? Let him beat me to support his ego? What do you even see in that cold blooded guy?"

"Hey, he is not cold, he is just cool, that is totally different."

"Yeah, cool as a block of ice."

"You don't understand."

"Perhaps I don't, but what I see is you chasing after a self proclaimed idol. What I don't understand is why, not that it concernes me, but still."

"Well, he is……." Sakura was sure she knew why she was after Sasuke, but now that she thought about it she couldn't say. Sure he was good looking and was strong, but many guys were good looking and strong.

Anre looked at his puzzled teammate. "My point exactly." After that he sat down and took put his scroll again, making it clear that the conversation was over.

Sakura also sat down. She was now very uneasy, after not being able to answer such a simple question as why she liked Sasuke. Just everyone else liked him. Then it struck.

"_I was after him just because everyone else were! Am I really this shallow_?

"**Perhaps you are**."

"_Hey, shut up_!" As long as Sakura could remember herself she had this inner self inside her. She never told anyone, scared that they would think she was crazy.

"**Why should I, I am a part of you**."

"_yeah, yeah, but I am a little confused at the moment_."

"**Sure you are, after all you did act as a crazed fangirl**."

"_Hey, you also liked Sasuke_!"

"**Oh, what I hear – liked, and where is kun?**"

"_Oh, just shut up_."

The uncomfortable silence continued until finally:

"Umm, Anre…"

the boy raised his head. "Yes?"

"Ummm, thanks for saving me back then, I mean I appreciate that."

Anre looked questionably at Sakura, until his face softened and a small smile appeared.

"You are welcome."

In the evening Tazuna, Anre and Sakura came back from the construction sight. As they came Tsunami was finishing preparing dinner. Kakashi was reading his orange book and giggling, Naruto was sleeping in an umchair, while Sasuke was brooding. He was surprised though when Sakura didn't start bugging him again, not that he minded. She just gave him a strange look and went to help Tsunami serve the table. Soon everyone were at the table.

"You know guys, I was thinking here, we might have a problem." Kakashi said.

"What do you mean sensei?"

"Well remember when that hunter nin took out Zabusa."

The genin nodded.

"He took the body." Anre said.

"Exactly, but usually hunter nins destroy it on the spot, if he needed evidence he could have taken the sword, or his head."

"So what do you mean sensei?" Sakura asked.

"I think, Zabusa is still alive."

All but Kakashi and Anre looked shocked. Tazuna began sweating like crazy.

"Y-you sure?"

"Positive, that hunter nin was helping Zabusa."

"But we saw him die."

"No, remember his weapon? Putting someone in a near death state is easy for a hunter nin."

"so we will face him again, sweet, can't wait to kick his but." Naruto grinned.

"Well I am glad you are confident Naruto, but remember, that you should train."

"Got it."

Suddenly a Tazunas grandkid raised his head.

"Why you try, you will still die, you can't win against Gato."

Naruto turned to the kid, his cheery expresiion turned to of a controlled anger.

"I don't care what you think."

"You, you don't know how hard life can be, you are always so cheerful, not a trouble in the world."

"So it makes it alright to cry? You are pathetic, brat. Cry if you wish scaredy baby, I am going upstairs." Naruto left without even finishing his food. Soon after Inari burst out of the room, followed by Kakashi, who told that he would talk to the kid.

Inari was sitting near the water sobbing over the picture of his father.

"You know, your mother told me about your father today." Kakashi sat down near the boy.

"You are lucky, you still have a family, Naruto never knew his."

Inari looked surprised at the ninja.

"But guess what, I never saw him cry, or blame life, I think he is just tired of always crying, perhaps he doesn't have any tears left to shed. That is why he is concerned about you."

Inari didn't answer.

"Naruto often first speaks then thinks, but what he said to you is true, Inari."

Inari didn't answer again, but stopped sobbing aswell.

"Well, I think I'll be going now."

Kakashi left the kid alone with his uneasy thoughts.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4 The battle on the bridge.

"Ok, since Sasuke and Naruto completed the tree climbing exercise they will join Sakura and me tomorrow at the bridge. Anre will stay here for tomorrow." When everyone nodded Kakashi went to his room.

The next day team 7 and Kakashi came to the bridge with Tazuna and saw that all of the workers were on the ground unconscious. The next second a thick mist enveloped the place.

"It's him" Kakashi revealed his sharingan.

Suddenly water clones appeared around the group, but they were quikly destroyed by Sasuke.

"So, it seems my apprentice will have a worthy opponent, but I wonder where is that masked kid." The voice came from the mist. The next second Sasuke was attacked by a familiar masked hunter nin and was forced to go defensive, but soon Naruto joined the battle creating several shadow clones. Sakura left with Tazuna, while Kakashi engaged Zabusa.

Naruto and Sasuke soon made the masked nin jump back after getting cut by a kunai. Naruto and Sasuke both had several senbon needles in their body.

Suddenly their opponent went through several one handed seals and created a dome over them, made of ice mirrors. He then jumped in one of them and then his image appeared in all the mirrors.

"Now, you will see my speed." Immidiately he started to throw needles, which seemed to be coming from all the directions. Naruto created clones, but the got destroyed after several hits. Soon both Naruto and Sasuke were covered in needles. As the masked nin wanted to make the final blow Sasuke's eyes became red with a tomoe, he now saw that his opponent was jumping from mirror to mirror at incredible speeds. Now he was able to dodge the needles, but Naruto could not, he still created a clone after a clone to shield himself, but was already tiring out. The sharingan also was straining for Sasuke as he wasn't experienced in it's usage.

Little by little they were getting covered in needles, barely avoiding getting hit in vital areas. Then the bridge shook from what appeared a powerful hit. The ground inside the ice dome began to crack and then Anre appeared from the ground leaving a huge hole.

"Naruto, Sasuke, get out through the hole, I'll keep this guy busy, stay on the support beams."

The wounded boys didn't argue as they jumped down through the hole, which was then closed by ice coming from one of the mirrors.

"So, it is you, I was wondering when you would come, actually that is the reason I didn't kill your friends, but now you are trapped."

"Indeed, but that is until I break the trap."

"Anything you can do is useless, my mirrors are unbreakable….. what the?"

Anre suddenly started generating a huge amount of chakra, until it was visible to the naked eye. Then the chakra formed bat like wings, a spiked tail and claws on Anre. His eyes suddenly began to glow purple.

Zabusa and Kakashi jumped from each other after feeling an immence chakra spike.

"_what the, this chakra, it is too powerful to belong to Kakashi_."

"_Zabusa? No, too much even for him_."

Back at the ice dome the ice wielder started showering needles, but Anre used his chakra wings to protect himself. Then he took a deep breath and briethed out a huge cone of fire at the mirrors in front.

"It is useless, fire can't be….huh?" the mirrors that were hit by fire began to crack.

"Impossible!"

The mirrors exploded in a shower of ice shards as Anre was moving his fire around destroying a mirror after a mirror until his opponent lost control over his jutsu and was forced to jump out of the last one. Anre didn't give his opponent a chance to do anything as he threw his daggers hitting both legs. With a cry of pain the masked nin began to fall, but instead was thrown back, and then slammed into the asphalt, just as Naruto and Sasuke were climbing over the railing. The chakra features fades as Anre caughed out a small cloud of smoke.

"I hate doing that, the throat is all sore."

In the mean time the fight between Zabusa and Kakashi resumed and Zabusa was gaining the upper hand. He was used to fighting in his mist, which rendered the sharingan almost useless. Kakashi already had a huge cut all over his chest. Then he was hit by a blunt side of the blade and was thrown back. Zabusa raised his sword going for a finishing blow when suddenly……… his feet were entangled by roots coming from the ground. Zabusa turned his head and saw a girl in a red dress behind him. When he turned back he saw Kakashi charging at him with a strange jutsu in his hand.

"CHIDORI!"

Zabusa tried to block with his sword, but the jutsu cut through the blade. Zabusa still managed to dodge, but got a deep cut over his shoulder and his feet were still bound to the ground. Then three figures came out of the mist. One was carrying Zabusas apprentice over his shoulder.

TUCK, TUCK, TUCK

The mist lifted and everyone saw a small man in a suit and glasses standing on the unfinished end of the bridge. He was surrounded by a huge group of well armed thugs.

"Well, well Zabusa, and you are supposed to be the great demon of the mist. What a joke, you are just a cute little baby demon. I think I should tell you that I never intended to pay you. Hireing ninjas from the villages is expensive, so I hire missing nins and then kill them using sheer numbers, it doesn't cost me anything." The little man started laughing maniacally.

"Kakashi, we now have no reason to fight." Zabusa turned to his opponent.

"I suppose." Kakashi lowered his forehead protector hiding the sharingan eye.

"So, Zabusa-san, care to take these thugs out?" Anre came forward, putting a limp body of Zabusas apprentice on the ground.

"What did you do to her? What did you do to Haku?"

"Haku, huh? Well, she most likely has cracked ribs and also two wounds from my daggers in legs but I didn't hit any major nerves or arteries, so she will be fine."

"Cool, I can help too." Naruto created several shadow clones.

The ninjas and thugs prepared to charge at each other, but a crossbow bolt landed between them.

"Hey called for help?" Inari yelled standing infront of the crowd of armed villagers.

"If you want to attack our friends, you will have to deal with us!"

The thugs made a step back and then started running to the boat as they faced the combined killer intent of both Anre, Zabusa and Kakashi. Gato tried to run aswell, but was stooped by the same jutsu as Zabusa. He fought the roots but in vain. Soon he was the only one left on the bridge among the ninjas and the villagers.

"P-please, don't kill me." He begged.

Zabusa came up to him. "A baby demon, am I? Fine I'll send you to a place full of demons!" Zabusa violently snapped Gato's neck.

In the mean time Anre walked to the side of the bridge that overlooked a large boat Gato's men were boarding to get away. Anre went through several hands seals that Zabusa immediately recognized. The water under the boat began to stirr and bubble until suddenly a giant water dragon raised, holding the boat between his jaws. The bandidts cried in fear as they all were lifted above the bridge level. The dragon wasn't just big, it was huge. Even Zabusa had to admit that he never created the one that big.

"Whoah." Sakura and Naruto said in unison.

Anre moved his hands and the dragon snapped the boat, instantly crashing all that were on it and then taking the remains to the bottom. Seconds later after a momemtary silence the villagers erupted in cheers.

"So, what now Zabusa?" Kakashi came up.

"I don't know, I am tired of running, and Haku deserves better."

"Hmm, you can always join Konoha shinobi."

"Join your village? Perhaps it will be for the best. Fine, I agree one one condition."

"What is it."

"You pay for reparing my blade."

Kakashi sighed: "Agreed."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5 Return.

The group was crossing a recently completed bridge. They told their goodbyes to Tazuna and his family along with other villarers, who actually held no grudge agains Zabusa and Haku which just barely got off bed after healing the wounds in her legs. Zabusa had the two halves of his blade strapped to his back and now was talking to Kakashi about his book.

Anre was talking with Naruto about their fight with Haku. Sakura was finally feeling proud for herself after helping Kakashi. Sasuke was his usual cold self, though he lightened up a bit after obtaining the sharingan.

"Hey Sakura." Sasuke came up to the pink haired girl.

"Yes?"

"I admit, you changed."

"Huh?"

"You are strong, I didn't expect you to stop Zabusa."

"Oh, thanks, I guess genjutsu is really my thing."

"Well I was wondering, how about that date you always wanted."

Sakura looked amazed. Before this mission she would have squeeld with delight if Sasuke would have asked her out, but now. She thought a lot after the talk with Anre and one thing she always could do, was being honest with herself. She really did act like a foolish fangirl. And as she looked back she didn't like what she saw. Now that she could analyze things clearly she wasn't all that into Sasuke, actually she agreed with Anre, he was cold and rude. Asking her out just because she was strong in his opinion and not because of her character only added to this.

"Thanks, but no thanks, besides, I will be busy when we will get back"

She walked past a dumbstruck Sasuke, which never imagined that she would ever turn down his offer. Actually He wasn't the only one surprised. Naruto had an expression of utter disbelief, while Kakashi was scratching his head.

Several hours later they decided to make camp as it was already getting late. After setting up the camp, everyone split up. Kakashi went to teach Sasuke how to properly use the sharingan. Sasuke glared daggers at Anre when they passed a small clearing where he was teaching Sakura how to identify and dispel different genjutsus. Not only was that bastard able to beat Haku, but he also was spending time with girl he found worthy of him.

Naruto decided to practice tree climbing. He still had problems with it as his grip with the tree wasn't always stable. Finally he fell crashing into the ground.

"You alright?" Naruto saw Haku leaning over his prone body.

"Yeah, I think, ohhh my back." There was a crack when he stood up.

"Why do you tire yourself like this."

"Because I want to get strong, next time we fight, I'll beat you."

"Why do you want to get strong?"

"Because I want to become hokage, so that people would acknowledge me."

"Oh, listen, do you have people dear to you?"

Naruto thought for a moment, images of Iruka, old man hokage, Konohamaru, Anre, Sakura raised through his brain.

"Yeah, I do."

"Well I think that we become strong to protect such people."

"Yeah, I understand that."

"Good, you will become strong."

Haku left Naruto to his training.

The next day they made it to Konaha gates. The chunin guards looked suspiciously at Zabusa, but let him pass after Kakashi explained the nature of their visit. Soon they made their way to Hokages office. When they entered Sarutobi was already informed about Zabusa and Haku.

"Team 7 reporting." Kakashi said.

"I trust our mission was a success."

"Indeed it was, but we had some……trouble."

It took Kakashi a good hour to tell the story and that missing some parts.

"Ok, an A-rank mission will go into your records and you will be paid significantly. As for Zabusa and his apprentice……Zabusa-sama, I heard that you attempted to assassinate the Mizukage."

Zabusa nodded.

"Why shouldn't I expect the same from you?"

"As long as I am treated with respect and not as some weapon that can be thrown out, I have no quarrel with you."

"I see, then I see no problem with you joining us, I ask you and your apprentice to stay to fill the necessary paper work. I will inlist Haku as a genin and you Zabusa as a jounin. The fact that you had the same rank at the village hidden in the mist proves that we can skip the formality of promoting you to chunin and only then jounin. After everything will be done I will see to finding you an apartment."

Kakashi and his team along with Anre left the office leaving Haku and Zabusa on one on one with paperwork. Sasuke went back to his mantion at the Uchiha district, Naruto raced off yelling "RAMEN" and Kakashi just said "bye" and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"So, you promised to help me at the library."

"I did, but don't you need to get home first, say hi to your parents and all."

"Yeah, I guess." Sakura nodded "_Gee, he is thoughtful_."

"Good, I'll meet you in front of the library in lets say an hour, I need to get y place aswell: dump things, grab a shower."

"Ok, see ya."

Sakura quickly ran home. She told her parents that her mission was a success, took a shower and set of to the library. In the street she stumbled upon a blond girl.

"Oh, hi Ino."

"Hello Sakura, where are you going?"

"To the library."

"Library? I knew you were a bookworm, but this is a little too much."

"Very funny Ino, I am going to pick some genjutsu scrolls to learn, Anre will help me."

"Anre? That special genin?"

"Yeah, he offered help during our mission to the wave."

"So, that is it, and here I wondered where you and more importantly Sasuke-kun disappeared to."

"Yeah we got a C-rank mission, which actually turned out to be A-rank."

"No way."

"Yeah, I am glad Anre joined the mission."

"Why is that, you had Sasuke-kun he can't be beaten."

"Yeah right, trust me compared to Anre we all are just little children."

"But Sasuke-kun…"

"Well he did awaken his sharingan, but it didn't help him much."

"The sharingan! Wow that is great!"

"Yeah, it didn't help him though."

"So that Anre guy is like really strong?"

"Trust me, he is, he went on par with a former mist jounin and beaten his apprentice, which beaten both Naruto and Sasuke."

"Whoah!"

"Yeah, I didn't believe when I saw that, but he is really nice though, helped me to find my way sort of, I really managed to help Kakashi-sensei thanks to him."

"Yeah, right, hey there is the library."

The girls came closer and saw Anre sitting on the steppes leading to the doors. As expected he was working on another scroll.

"What is he doing?"

"oh, he is always working on those, I only once saw him use his scrolls in battle and trust me, I almost felt pity for Zabusa."

"Who?"

"That former mist jounin, by the way, he and his apprentice Haku joined the leaf."

The girl came even closer and Anre noticed them

"Oh, hello, sorry didn't notice you." Anre wrapped up his scroll and stood up.

"Hi, Anre, this is my friend Yamanako Ino."

"Pleased to meet you, I am Anre."

"Ummm, hi." Ino waved.

"So, shall we go in."

"Oh, yes, sure, Was nice seeing you Ino."

The masked nin and a pink haired kunochi entered the library, leaving the blonde who really didn't know what to think.

"So,where do we start?"

"Well I think first things first, lets go to the genjutsu section, and then we will pick some scrolls on medical ninjutsu.

"Oh, ok."

Soon they both entered the room that read Genjutsu in the entrance.

"Whoah! There are so many scrolls."

"Yep, but lets limit ourselves to those of D and C rank."

"Ok, you are the teacher."

"Am not, now lets go."

About an hour later they picked 3 scrolls.

"Ok, now lets see the medical scrolls."

This didn't take much time, as the scroll teaching the basics was quickly found.

"Well, it think the will keep you occupied for a week or so."

"Yeah, thanks, where will you go now?"

"I was going to the training ground."

"Great, mind if I come, I need to try out these."

"Sure, I don't mind"

Anre and Sakura came to the same training field where they took the bell test. Sakura sat under a tree and started reading one of the scroll which described how to create an illusionary swarm of bees. Anre in the mean time created several water clones and started sparring with them. Sakura noticed that the original was moving very fast, actually most of the time she could only make out a blurr.

"_Wow, he is fast_."

Then Anre threw several kunai at the clones, which they deflected, but failed to see them turning into explosive notes. In a huge explosion all the clones were destroyed.

"Anre! I know you are training and all, but I am trying to read here."

"Oops sorry, got carried away."

"Why don't you use your jutsus in sparring?"

"Well, the powerful ninjutsu takes a lot of chakra, I use it as a last resort or when the battle is of the most importance. I try to use simple teckniques, because if used properly they can be quite effective, remember the bell test?"

"Yeah, I guess, can you teach me to do that aswell?"

"Teach? you alredy know how to do a substituton or henge, just use your imagination."

"Maybe you can demonstrate something."

"Hmm, I think I could show you one move I like to use."

Anre took out a dozen kunais and scattered them across the clearing.

"Now look, now I am here, and now I am not."

Anre disappeared in a puff of smoke, in his place was one of the kunai. Then he started popping all around the clearing exchanging places with kunais.

Sakura looked with wide eyes.

"Neat! But I don't think I will be able to do that so fast."

"Sure you will, you just need to boost your chakra control to a level when you will be able to mold chakra for a substitution without hand seals.

"That's neat."

"Yeah, it is, I always was amazed how everyone underestimated the power of the simplest techniques."

In the mean time Naruto was running toward the ramen stand, he didn't have ramen for almost a month and now had a huge paycheck for his first A-rank. He was almost drooling thinking of all that ramen waiting for him.

As Naruto was turning the corner he suddenly bumped into someone.

"Ouch."

Naruto pulled him self up and looked who he bumped into. In front of him was a girl with dark blue hair and pale eyes. She was rubbing her forehead, obviously because of the impact.

"Oh, sorry about that Hinata."

Naruto helped the shy girl to stand up, what made her turn red.

"Oh, n-no problem Naruto-kun."

"Hey, how about some ramen, my treat."

"n-no, I couldn't."

"C'mon, I did bump into you, besides I have a huge paycheck for completing my first A-rank mission."

Hinatas eyes widened.

"An A-rank?"

"Yeah, lets go I'll tell you while we eat."

Hinata was forced to let Naruto drag her behind her, not that she minded though.

"……and then zabusa snapped his head, looked rather scary."

Naruto was finishing telling Hinata about their mission. Hinata listened, but was also somewhere between the seventh cloud and the fairy land, because she was sitting next to Naruto, eating ramen. Well Naruto was actually devouring it between the sentences.

"….and then we went back to Konoha."

"Oh, that is great Naruto-kun, you must be proud."

"Yeah, I am, but I need to train more to become stronger."

"I wish I was stronger."

"Hey, don't say you are weak, I'd have a hard time going against you any time."

"You think so, I….." Hinata turned even a deeper shade of crimson. "….I can train with you if you want."

"Really? That's great, lets meet tomorrow, at the training grounds."

"O-ok"

"Great, well I need to get going now, we should eat like this again someday, bye Hinata-chan".

Naruto payed for the food and raced off leaving a tomato like Hinata.

"_Did he call me Hinata-chan_?" After that the girl fainted, slowly sliding down the chair she was sitting on.

The next day Hinata went to the raining grounds still not believing that Naruto would be there, but he was and was sparring with what seemed to be his solid copies.

"Oh, Hi Hinata!" Naruto grinned.

"H-hello."

"So, shall we train?"

"S-sure, w-what do you want to do?" Hinata was turning a deeper shade of red, but Naruto was somehow already getting used to it.

"I don't know, what do you usually do?"

"Umm, mostly train my clans taijutsu style."

"Cool, your clan has it's own taijutsu style, I bet it is hard."

"Well, yes and you need good chakra control."

"Chakra control! Hinata I desperately need to boost mine, can you show me some exercises? Please?" Naruto begged. "I will create shadow clones for you to train against, thus we both will get what we want."

"Oh, ok. D-do you know h-how to run up a tree."

"Yeah, mastered it several days ago."

"T-then how about trying to walk on water, it is the next step." Hinata didn't notice that now that her mind wasn't concentrated on Naruto entirely she didn't stutter as much.

"Walking on water? How?"

"S-simple. It is like running up a tree, you just have to always change the flow of chakra."

"Oh, I see." Naruto scratched his head and looked at a small river behind him. "Ok, I guess I should try. Hinata, how much clones do you want to sparr against?"

"Ummm, l-lets start at two."

"Ok." Naruto grinned forming his favourite seal. "Shadow clone jutsu!" Immidiately the training ground was filled with over 300 Narutos.

"Ok guys, two at a time." Naruto said and went to the water while Hinata looked at a small army of Narutos trying to get her head working again.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6 The chunin exams begin.

Team 7 have just assembled on the bridge where they usually met, and now were waiting for Kakashi, as usual.

"Any idea, why Kakashi-sensei called us?" Naruto asked as he was the last to turn up.

"Nope, not a clue."

Sakura felt uneasy as Sasuke was glaring at her. In about an hour Kakashi appeared.

"Yo."

"You are late!" both Naruto and Sakura pointed at the masked shinobi.

"Oh, well I see I forgot to feed my canary bird and…"

"LIAR!"

"Yeah, well I have news for you guys, I nominated you for chunin exams."

Naruto punched the air "Yahoooo!"

"I am glad you are happy Naruto, now guys, take these forms and fill them in, then come to register for the exams tomorrow at the academy."

"Great, thanks sensei."

"Fine, see ya."

Kakashi puffed away as usual, as his team began filling the registration forms. Soon they were ready and since there were nothing else to do they parted ways. Sasuke went back home as Naruto went to his usual lunch place the Ichiraku's ramen stand. Sakura had to do some errands for her mother, so she went the same way as Naruto to the center of the village. It wasn't long before they both noticed a box painted as a rock with two holes following them.

"Quit it Konahamaru! Who are you trying to fool, no rock is squere with eye holes!" Naruto pointed accusingly at the box/rock thing which exploded in a puff of smoke revealing three kids, all wearing goggles.

"Hi boss, you are sharp, as expected from my rival."

"Huh? Who are your friends Konohamaru?"

"Oh, these are Udon and Moegi and together we are the Konohamaru corps."

"And what's with the goggles?"

"We are copying you, boss"

Naruto and the kids began laughing as Sakura looked at them like someone who had just seen a flying saucer.

"Hey boss, who is the girl, is she your… you know…girlfriend?"

Sakura started imagining things she would do to Naruto if he would say yes.

"Nope, she is just my teammate, her name is Sakura."

Sakura was rather surprised, but relieved aswell.

"Well good for you boss, just look at the forehead."

"Ummm Konohamaru…."

"Yeah boss?"

"RUN!"

Konohamaru looked at Sakura and immediately understood that now his life was more in danger than ever before.

"HEEEEEELP!"

the Konohamaru corps. ran from the enraged Sakura along with Naruto, until Konohamaru bumped into some kid wearing a black jumpsuit and make up over his face, not to mention some strange cacoon on his back. Behind him stood a blonde with an oversized fan. The boy picked Konohamaru up by the collar of his clothes.

"kankurou, drop the kid."

"Quit it Temari, he bumped into me and I am going to teach him a lesson."

Naruto stepped forward.

"Hey, let go of him freak."

"Shut up runt, this kid had it coming."

"Kankoruo, we don't need a fight." The blonde with the fan spoke again.

"This will not be a fight, just a little training on a life target."

Suddenly something black appeared next to the boy with a cacoon and Konohamaru fell to the ground, the hand still clutching the collar of his shirt was cut off. Then Kankoruo was grabbed by his cacoon and thrown into the fence, the cacoon being ripped from his back. Before anyone could say anyone a long dagger was driven through the boys skull pinning him to the fence.

There was complete silence, except for a thud when Moegi fell fainting.

"You can come out of there." The black figure turned out to be Anre in his full battle gear.

The blonde with the fan took a step forward but was stopped when three of Naruto's clones appeared in front of her, all holding a kunai. To everyones surprise the cacoon on the ground began to move and soon unwrapped revealing…..Kankurou.

"How? But he….the dagger…. And….." Konohamaru looked at the body pinned to the fence and saw that it was actually a human sized puppet camouflaged to look like its owner.

You will pay for that." Kankoruo said standing up.

"Perhaps, or perhaps not, but I think your teammate is waiting for you."

Anre pointed at a tree where was standing a boy with bright red hair and a huge gourd on his back. He disappeared in whirl of sand and reappeared next to his teammates.

"Kankoruo stop, you are a discrase."

"But Gaara…"

"Shut up, or I'll kill you."

"Sorry. Gaara, you are right."

"You there, your name?" Gaara pointed at Anre.

"I am Anre, and no need to introduce yourselve Subaku no Gaara, I know who you are."

"And you?"

"Uzumaki Naruto." Naruto dispelled his clones.

"I will remember that. Kankoruo, Temari, we are leaving."

The boy with the make up picked up what was left of his cacoon, the hand of his puppet that Konohamaru threw aside and the puppet itself after Anre removed the dagger. When they left Konahamaru was the first to speak.

"Well that was fun."

"Yeah, hilarious, see how I am laughing." Sakura said trying to wake Moegi. "Anre, how come you know that guy."

"I didn't say I know him just heard of him, and if you are in chunin exams, stay away from him?"

"Why?" Naruto asked.

"Because from what I have heard he only fights to kill, not wound, knock out, capture, only kill."

Everyone paled visibly.

"Ok, enough talking, I guess we should get these kids home."

No one had any objections.

The next day team 7 met up at the academy and made their way to the third floor to register for the exams, when they came they saw a small crowd in front of the room 301 and two boys who weren't letting anyone in.

"Please, let us take an exam." A girl in a pink Chinese type shirt said.

"Hell no, besides we are doing you a favor, you will just die at the exams." One of the boys at the doors said.

"Stop it, and drop that genjutsu already." Sasuke stepped forward.

"So, you noticed."

"That was rather easy." Sakura formed a ram seal. "Kai" and the number on the door changed from 301 to 201.

"Well, noticing isn't good enough."

One of the boys charged at Sasuke, which charge himself, but their strikes were blocked by another genin, the one who was being picked on by these two. He wore tight green spandex a bowl cut and had thick, bushy brows that freaked out Sakura.

"Lee, what are you doing, we are supposed to keep low profile." Another genin stepped forward. He had strange pale eyes without pupils.

"Sorry Neji, but I had to interfere." He then made his way to Sakura "Hi, I am Rock Lee, will you be my girlfriend?"

Sakuras eye began twitching "Hell no, I already have someone I like!"

Lee face faulted. Team seven took the opportunity to leave.

When they were making their way towards the stairs they were gained by Lee.

"Hey! You are a Uchiha, right?"

Sasuke turned around.

"So."

"I heard that you are a genius, so I want to test my battle skills against you and also fight for the love of Sakura-chan."

"Who ever said that I like Sasuke?!" Naruto restrained the pissed girl from attacking Lee, who was surprised, but not as much as Sasuke, who still thought that she had a crush on him.

"Still, I want to test my skills against you Uchiha Sasuke."

"Fine, as you wish."

Both Sakura and Naruto tried to talk them out of it, but in vain. The two charged at each other, Sasuke immediately activated his sharingan. To his surprise he couldn't react to his opponents moves, he could read them, but not react in time. Soon his was launched into the air by a powerful kick, as Lee jumped up himself unwrapping the bandages that covered his hands.

"How? Is this genjutsu?"

"No, to your surprise my moves are purely taijutsu, you might be able to read my moves, but aren't fast enough to do anything."

Lee prepared to wrap the bandages around Sasuke when….

"LEE, STOP!" a turtle appeared in the room.

"Yes Gai-sensei." Lee left sasuke alone to crash on one of the clones Naruto created to soften his fall.

"LEE. I told you that move was for emergencies."

"Is that turtle his sensei?" Naruto whispered to Sakura who shrugged her shoulders. Then a man appeared on top of the turtle that looked like an older version of lee. To their surprise the first thing he did was punching Lee in the face.

"Lee, I hope you learned your lesson."

"Yes Gai-sensei, and if I didn't I will make 1000 push up on my fingers."

"LEE"

"Gai-sensei!"

The two green figures gave each other a hug.

"I lost…. To him?" Sasuke was about to throw up.

"Lets go, before I get sick." Naruto turned to the stairs followed by his teammates.

They climbed to the next floor and saw Kakashi.

"Well, I am glad you all came, because the exam is supposed to be taken in groups of three, actually there is only one exeption."

"Hello Kakashi-sensei." Naruto grinned greeting his sensei.

"Sorry sensei, what exeption?"

"Oh, our friend Anre was allowed to take the exam solo, due to his…. Unique status."

Sasuke scowled.

"So, Anre is also taking part, great." Naruto punched the air as Sakura gave a small blush.

"I wouldn't be so happy Naruto if I was you." Kakashi started reading his book.

"Why is that Kakashi sensei?" Sakura asked.

"Well I can only tell you that the exam naturally involves fighting, and anyone could be your opponent, including Anre." Naruto gulped. "Ok, now enter these doors, there are the rest op participians waiting for the beginning of the exam.

"Hey look, its Ino." Sakura pointed at a blond who was approaching her team along with her two teammates. Then she saw Sasuke….

"Sasuke-kun, you made it, I missed you….." she clung to Uchiha. Everyone sweatdropped.

"So, you are also here." A voice came from behind as they saw team 8 approaching. "It seems every one from our year is here, except for that Anre guy, but like he stands a chance against us." Kiba smirked confidentally.

"Hey Hinata-chan" Naruto approached the girl.

"H-hello Naruto-kun."

"Hey, since when are you so close?" Kiba asked.

"We have been training together for the past month, dog breath."

Kiba was taken back by both the nickname and the fact that his teammate was training with someone he considered dead last.

"Well, good for you Naruto, I wonder did that special genin guy chicken out, or what."

Suddenly Kiba felt chill crawl down his spine, as he felt cold steel at his neck. He looked down and saw that another dagger was placed at Akamarus throat.

"Talking about me?"

Kiba gulped. "N-n-no."

"Thought so." Anre pulled his daggers away.

"hey Anre-kun, you are here aswell."

"Yeah, I made it, good to see you Sakura-chan."

From the crowd came another genin. He was wearing glasses and seemed a little older then the others.

"I advice you to keep quiet here, trust me, I am a veteran of this exam and trust me when I tell you that you do not want to draw attention."

"And who might you be?" Sasuke asked trying to get Ino off him.

"My name is Kabuto."

"Pleased to meet you, but I think I'll stay out of this talk." Anre, Sakura, Naruto and Hinata walked aside and started talking about the oncoming exam. They all didn't like Kabuto for some reason. Shikamaru thought it was troublesome and didn't listen, as wasn't his friend Chouji. So the only ones left with Kabuto were Kiba, Shino, Sasuke and naturally Ino.

"So, this is your second chance?" Ino asked.

"Actually it is my seventh, by the way I have detailed information on almost anyone here." Kabuto pulled out a deck of cards.

"Do you have information on Rock Lee and Rakizi Anre." Sasuke asked.

"Yeah, I'd like to know about that Anre guy aswell." Kiba said throwing a glare at a figure in black.

'Oh, you know their names, almost too easy. Lets see…..ahh here, Rock Lee. He is a year older than you, he completed 26 D-rank and 7 C-rank missions. Teammates Tenten and Huuga Neji. His sensei is Maito Gai. He is very good at taijutsu, but has no ninjutsu or genjutsu. Threat rating 6/10 seems he is a dangerous opponent. His power is a low level chunin as minimum."

Sasuke nodded. "Now the other one."

"Ok….Anre…lets see. Same year as you. Missions: whoah, 8 C-rank, 3 B-rank and 1 A-rank, very unusual. It also tells that he got the permission to participate in the exam alone without any teammates, no information on his sensei. Skills – very good taijutsu, average genjutsu skills, very good kenjutsu with daggers, his ninjutsu skills are extraordinary. Has a huge chackra reserve and good chakra control, meaning he can last in a long battle. Known skills: water clone, water dragon, shadow blending, chameleon jutsu and something called "power word art". Nothing on his other jutsu, but a huge probability of him wielding some way more powerful jutsus. Also rumors that he has summons and a bloodlimit, but no confirmed data. Threat rating 10/10. Possibility of being a jounin probably even a sannin level shinobi. This is unexpected." Kabuto adjusted his glasses. "In other words, don't run if you see him."

"Why?" Ino was puzzled. "You said he was dangerous."

"Don't run, because it is useless." Ino gulped. Kiba was now seriously worried for his life. Sasuke was furious.

In a couple of minutes the doors opened and a man with a scarred face came in.

"Silence maggots, follow me."

He led them to one of the bigger class rooms where everyone were seated in a decided order. Naruto was very happy when he saw that he turned out to sit next to Hinata.

"I am Morino Ibiki, proctor of this first exam and I'd like to welcome you all to my personal hell. In front of you is your test, there will be a total of 10 questions, you have an hour, begin. Yes?"

Ibiki turned to a rock nin who raised his hand.

"But there are only 9 questions on this test."

"The tenth will come later, now begin."

An hour later Ibiki stopped the test. During that time several teams were kicked out for cheating.

"Now it is time for the tenth question. But I warn you if you fail to answer it, you will banned from taking this exam ever again, you may leave now and try next year."

After that more teams left and only about a half stayed.

"That's it?" Ibiki looked around the room. "Fine, then I must inform you, that all of you…. Pass"


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7 The chunin exams continiue.

Anre was jumping through the forest. He had recently got the heaven scroll he needed from a rain team, who actually have already gathered both and now where resting before heading out to the tower. It was the third day of the exam, but the two teams he met before all had earth scrolls. The rain team he met actually was a blessing.

Flashback

Three rain nins were resting under a tree, one had his shoulder bandaged up. He was also the one that was carrying the scroll, as Anre understood from their talk, while he himself was hiding in the shadows.

"Ok, you finish to set up the camp, I' go find some firewood." The nin with the bandaged shoulder said.

"Ok, just leave the scrolls here."

The said nin pulled the scrolls out of his pouch and placed it where his teammates could see it, before disappearing into the woods.

He didn't have any trouble finding the firewood, nor didn't he have any trouble falling to the ground after being knocked out by Anre, who raised from a nearby shadow. Anre quikly transformed into the now unconscious nin, only without his headband and went to the camp with the fire wood. When he came back he dropped the wood and took the scrolls.

"Hey, where is you forehead protector." One of the other nin asked.

Anre tried the place where the knocked out rain nin had his headband and made a surprised expression.

"Oh drat, must have fallen off when that branch fell from a tree, wait , I'll go get it."

Before the others could say anything he disappeared into the woods. Only a couple hours later the rain nins found their comrade and understood what happened.

Flashback ends.

Now he was making his way to the tower, when he sensed three familiar chakra signatures nearby, so he decided to check. He quickly made his way to a small clearing where he saw Sakura taking care of a prone bodies of Naruto and Sasuke. They all looked like they went through hell of a fight. The fact that the two boys were out cold only proved it.

Sakura felt someone behind her and jumped up, kunai in hand, ready to attack.

"Easy, it's me."

Sakura recognized Anre.

"Anre, oh, I am glad to see you. We got attacked by some strange person, he said his name was Orochimaru and he bit Sasuke and Naruto got hit by a snake and….."

"Whoah, whoah, whoah, relax as I understand you got ambushed or something and the others got hurt, right?"

"Yeah."

"Do you still have the scroll?"

"Yes, we managed to hide it in the middle of the battle and replace with a replica."

"What kind of scroll do you have?"

"Heaven, why do you ask Anre."

"C'mon, we need to get both of them to the tower, I have extra earth scroll you can have. Did you figure what is wrong with them?"

"Well, Naruto is just knocked out, I managed to patch him up with the medical jutsu I learned recently, but I can't even figure out what is wrong with Sasuke, he only has a strange mark on his neck."

"Well, well, what do we have here." They both heard a voice from behind. Anre immediately spun around and saw the trio from the sound village. The one with his face bandaged up was standing next to a dark haired girl, while the last member of their team stood in front, wearing a confident smirk.

"Get out, while you still can." Anre growled. "I have no time to play with you." He began radiating powerful, yet controlled killer intent. The one that looked like a mummy took a step back. His only visible eye widened.

"Ha, confident, aren't we." The one in front raised his arms.

"Zaku, don't!" the mummy like sound nin yelled, but too late. Zaku shot a powerful air blast at Anre. When the dust cleared, he was shocked to see, that Anre remained standing. He only slid back a few sentimeters.

"What the….How…" Zaku couldn't finish as Anre appeared next to him and punched him in the gut, sending the boy into the air. He himself followed and began throwing a kick after a kick at Zaku. Jaw, stomack, shoulder, chest, jaw, chest, kidneys, jaw and finally a powerful spin kick to the side of the head.

"Dragon combo!" Anre declared landing just before Zaku's spinning body crashed next to his teammates. Anre then caught two senbon needles not even looking and threw them at the dark haired girl who threw them, hitting her in the shoulder. He then blurred out of their vsion.

"Where did he go?" the girl looked around while pulling the needles out of her shoulder.

Sudddenly she felt a presence behind her as Anre raised from the shadow, but before she could act he kicked her under the knees. Causing her to fall down. Anre then spun around and kicked her straight in the face. The girl flipped in mid air and landed face down. Anre then looked at Sosu letting his eyes flash purple.

"I said leave. I won't give you this chance again."

"Kin, lets go." The leader of the sound team said, picking up their battered teammate who was coming around after being knocked out. "We are out of our league." The girl slowly stood up. The lowed part of her face was covered in blood. They both took several steps back and disappeared in the trees.

"Lets go then." Anre picked up both Naruto and Anre.

"Anre, why are you helping us, aren't we opponents?" she asked when they started leaping through the trees after Anre gave her an earth scroll.

"We are, but we are also leaf shinobi, leaving you behind or attacking would be dishonorable, remember what Kakashi said after the bell test."

Sakura nodded when the memory came to her head.

"Thanks Anre-kun"

"Always welcome, but you'll owe me a date after we get this over with."

Sakura blushed like crazy, and would even make Hinata look pale. "O-ok, I'd love to."

They made it the tower in about three hours. Naruto and Sasuke were still out cold.

"Ok Sakura, here we have to go separate ways for a while. When you enter the doors open both scrolls to finish the exam." He helped her get the bodies to the door and then left after wishing her good luck. Inside Sakura saw a strange writing on the wall, but didn't concentrate on it. She unwrapped both scroll and tossed them aside when the smoke started rising. Seconds later Iruka appeared.

"Well, let me congratulate you on…..Sakura! What's with the boys?"

"They got hurt, we got attacked by some guy named Orochimaru and Sasuke has a strange mark on his neck after he was bitten."

"What?!"

"Yes, that's what happened."

"But how did you manage to get them both here, not to mention the scrolls?"

"Anre helped us, he had spare scrolls."

"Ok, stay here, I'll go get the medics."

Iruka ran off to find a medic squad.

Anre was immediately taken to Hokage, as he told he had crutial information. After the report there was dead silence. Hokage puffed on his pipe.

"So, you say Orochimaru. I had my suspicions after the report of 3 grass nins found dead and their faces stolen, but now this. Genma, go get Anko here, pronto."

A jounin standing behind the hokage disappeared in smoke. Soon he was back with a woman in a trench coat. Anre recognized her as a proctor of the second exam.

"Anko, please show Anre here the curse mark."

Anko looked at the masked genin. "Why should I show it to him."

"Just do it Anko, it is not the matter we can argue about."

Anko rarely saw hokage mad, but when he was, he was scary. So she lowered the collar of her coat revealing the strange mark on her neck. Anre looked at it then turned to the hokage and nodded.

"So it is confirmed, Orochimaru is leading the oncoming invasion our spies have reported about."

"Orochimaru! Where is that snake?" Anko was furious.

"Calm down Anko, not yet. Now I want Kakashi in here immediately, also send word to Jiraiya and send a team to find Tsunade, we will need other sannin to deal with this one."

Three more jounin disappeared after saluting the hokage.

"Now for you Anre, you are most likely the only genin who knows the oncoming situation, so I ask you to keep it quiet, you will get the orders when the time comes, for now continiue with the exam.

Anre bowed and left the office.

Two days later all those who managed to get to the tower with both scrolls were assembled it the main hall of the tower. There we a total of 7 teams making a total of 21 genin plus Anre. Sasuke glared at him, he remembered waking yesterday and finding out that he qualified only because Anre was so kind to give them an extra scroll.

The hokage wearing his formal clothes, including the red and white cloak.

"I want to congratulate you all on successfully completing the second part of the exam and now I will explain the true meaning of these tests?"

"Excuse me, what do you mean true meaning?" Ino asked raising her hand.

"Let me explain. These exams were created to let each village show it's strength without starting a war or a fully scaled conflict. The lord of our lands will be observing the performance and will decide, which village is strong and which is not. Thus those villages that impress the lords will get more missions and funding. But the lords should see only the best and I must say that this year the performance was exceptionally good. But the rules are rules, so we will have to have a preliminary round to lessen your numbers."

There were several objections, but they were silenced. Then a sick looking jounin came forward.

"Greeting 'cough' my name is Hayate and I will be the referee, first I want to tell you, that those who feel unable to fight and win may 'cough' leave now."

Hayate waited for a moment, but nobody moved.

"Ok, so now we will begin. The preliminaries 'cough' will be one on one rounds, those who win will proceed onto the third exam. Now we 'cough' will see the first to fight."

The next second a huge wide screened TV appeared and names began flashing around.

"So the first match will be 'cough' Uchiha Sasuke vs. Akade Yoroi, everyone else please move upstairs."

The fight wasn't very long. Yoroi tried to steal Sasukes chakra with some strange tecknique, but Sasuke with his sharingan was able to read his moves, then he launched him in the air using the move he copied from Lee and fineshed the fight with his Lion combo.

The next fight was Aburame Shino vs. Zaku, one of the sound nins. The battle ended when Shino secretly plugged the sound blasters built in Zakus arms. As he tried to fire them, they exploded leaving Zaku on the ground with his arms barely holding to his body.

After that there was a fight between Temari and Tenten which was fairly one sided as Tenten attacks were useless agains Temari's fan.

Then came a fight between Kabuto and Gaara, which Kabuto decided to forfeit.

Next was a fight between Naruto and Inuzuka Kiba. Naruto was training with Hinata for a long time, and her juuken style taught him some things, including not to get hit. So Naruto mostly dodged Kibas attacks, making the dog boy angry and frustrated. Finally he considered useg his double piercing fang tecknique, but in the end ended up standing against 10 Naruto's. So soon the master and his dog were pinned down.

A fight between Sakura and Ino ended with Inos defeat after she was caught in Sakuras genjutsu which made her eyes loose focus. The last thing she saw was something pink and blurry coming straight at her, as Sakura kicked the blonde in the knee causing her to fall down and then knocking her out with a quik chop to the neck.

After that Shikamaru beat Kin, another sound nin and Chouji lost to Dosu, the last member of the team from sound. Kankoruo beat the last ember of Kabutos team.

The fight between Lee and Anre was rather interesting, considering the fact that Anre decided to start with a taijutsu match, knowing that Lee couldn't do gen or ninjutsu.

"Fight!" Hayate jumped back. Lee went into his usual goken style stance, while Anre went into his own, suprising Lee, because he has never seen such a stance. His sensei at the balcony frowned as the stance was a puzzle for him also.

"Let the best shinobi win." Anre smiled under his mask.

"Yes! I agree, lets show our flames of youth!" Lee cheered and launched at Anre.

"Konoha whirlwind!" Lee cried doing a powerful spinkick at Anre. He waited for him to either duck or dodge it, but not block. Anre blocked and grabbed Lee's stretched leg and threw him into the wall. The power of the impact sent cracks into the wall. Second later Lee stood up and grinned.

"Yes, you are a worthy opponent, I will test my flames of youth." Lee charged again sending a barrage of kicks at Anre, tryind to circle the opponent, though Anre evaded with little effort. Finally when Lee attempted a punch to the face Anre dropped and gave Lee a swift kick into the stomack using both legs and then flipping back from the force of the hit. Anre landed on his legs, while Lee flew through the room and crashed into the statue at the other end raising a cloud of dust.

"Whoah" Sakura muttered.

"They are too troublesome."

"Look, he is still conscious." Ino pointed to the crater.

"When the dust cloud settled everyone saw Lee climping out of the crater.

"LEE. TAKE THEM OFF!" Gai cried.

"But Gai-sensei, you said that I can only do that to protect an important person."

"It is alright, I allow it."

Lee beemed up and pulled down his legwarmer revealing a set of weight. When he took them off and threw them aside they made meter wide craters where they landed.

"Isn't that a bit too much Gai?" Kakashi asked raising his eyes from a book.

"Now, Lee, show everybody your flames of youth!"

Lee nodded and blurred away. Anre raised his eyebrow and bent backward dodging a blow to his head and then leapt away when a green blurr tried to hit from the atop. Lee only hit ground sending cracks in all directions.

"Hmmm, you are really fast, but I have some tricks aswell." Anre's eyes began glowing purple. Both opponents charged, but now Anre was matching Lee's speed. Other noticed that he was also for some reason leaving an afterimage. Now it was hard to watch as two figures moving at amazing speeds tried to pound each other into the ground. Suddenly Lee gained a burst of speed and sent a kick to Anre's face sending the masked genin into the air. After that Lee quikly unwrapped his bandages and followed Anre into the air.

"Please, let it work." Gai prayed looking at his student battle.

"Gai, don't tell me that that is what I think it is." Kakashi put his book away and revealed his sharingan.

In the mean time Lee wrapped the bandages around Anre and they both went down spinning in mid air.

"INITIAL LOTUS." Both figures crashed into the ground. Seconds later Lee jumped out of the cloud and dropped to his kness. Opening even one celestial gate strained his body too much. But when the dust settled he saw Anre standing on the other side of the crated. Below inside was a puddle of water.

"How can that be!" Gai cried.

"He used a substitution with a water clone Gai." Kakashi lowered his forehead protector.

Lee looked shocked. His opponent evaded one of his most powerful attacks without even getting a scratch. He barely even looked tired. Lee slowly stood up a concentrated.

"_Sorry Gai-sensei, but I have to use it_." The next second charka started pouring out of Lee, as he began opening celestial gates, until entering the hidden lotus form.

"Gai, that tecknique is forbidden, why did you teach him that." Kakashi demanded.

"Because he deserves it."

Back on the arena Lee began to change even visually, hair swaying form the power, skin turning reddish.

"_Celestial gates, that's suicide, I have to stop him and quikly_." Anre though. Lee began to move at an inhuman speed. In a flash he appeared before Anre and sent a swift and power kick, but the blows went through the body, like through a ghost. At the same time Anre emerged from the puddle in the crater holding a scroll.

"POWER WORD ART: POWER WORD – STOP!" Anre cried, while Lee was in shock after his attacks did no harm to a simple bushin. The scroll flashed and Lee who tried to evade was still affected. The boy in green tights was paralyesed unable to move. The celestial gates closed because he couldn't now keep them open, so he slowly returned to normal. When that happen Anre released his jutsu letting Lee fall. The boy immediately passed out. His sensei jumped down to check on him and then looked at Anre who was climbing out of the crater. The medics quikly checked up on Lee and took him away seaying that he would make a full recovery.

When Lee was taken away Gai approached Anre, before he returned to the balcony.

"I really appreciate what you did for my student."

"Why on earth did you teach him that, that is a nealy suicide to perfom the hidden lotus."

"You see, Lee can't perform gen or ninjutsu, so taijutsu is his only remaining option. An the hidden lotus is the ultimate taijutsu tecknique."

"I see. Still that is a risk."

"I agree, but I never expected Lee to use it here."

"neither did I."

"how did you stop him?"

"I was forced to stop the flow of time, don't ask how, but I did. And it gives me a major headache. I mean I had to pump half of my charka."

"I understand. And thank you again."

The last fight turned out to be very dramatic aswell as it was between siblings, both Huuga members. It was a fight between Hinata and Neji and even though Hinata did the best she could she still lost to the Huuga prodigy, which only laughed in her face. His smile turned to scowl though as Hinata kept getting up after his attacks. When he went for the kill he was suddenly blocked by Kakashi, Gai, Asuma and Kurenai. Naruto in the mean time picked Hinata bridal style and took her to the medics.

After that those, who qualified picked the number from a small box.

Naruto got – 1

Anre got -3

Sasuke – 7

Gaara – 8

Neji – 2

Dosu – 10

Temari – 4

Sakura – 9

Shikamaru – 5

Kankoruo – 6

Shino – 11

Thus the match up where:

Naruto vs. Neji

Anre vs. Temari

Shikamaru vs. Kankoruo

Sasuke vs. Gaara

Sakura vs. Dosu

Shino would have fight the winner of the fifth match.

After that every one were dismissed after being told that the finals would start in a month.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8 A month between.

Anre, Naruto and Sakura came to visit Hinata at the hospital. She was still forced to stay in bed after the beating she received from Neji, but was happy that her friends have visited her. She also told that her father came earlier and told her that she did well in her fight against Neji. A praise coming from her father was a rare thing indeed. They stayed for a good two hours, or rather Naruto stayed at her side while Sakura and Anre waited nearby. When they were leaving they met Kakashi.

"Hey Kakashi-sensei! I need to ask you something." Naruto ran forward.

"Yo, Naruto I already know what you are going to ask."

Naruto looked puzzled "So…"

"Sorry I can't, I'll be…"

"You'll be training Sasuke, I knew it sensei." Naruto pointed his finger accusingly at Kakashi.

"Well, yeah, but it doesn't mean I forgot about you, I found you a teacher, look there he is."

Naruto turned around and then dropped anime style.

"WHAT! A closet pervert, why do you pick him of all the people?"

"A pervert? Ibisu is a special trainer actually."

"He's even weaker them I am, I totally beat him with my harem jutsu."

"Harem jutsu?"

"Yeah, he had a……."

Suddenly Naruto found a hand over his mouth and heard a whisper "You keep that between us and I'll buy you all the ramen you can eat. Naruto debated in his mind and decided that it was better than being without a teacher at all, so he surrendered and went with Ibisu after saying his goodbyes to everyone else.

Anre looked at the scene, his eyes narrowing.

"Sakura, go for now, I need to talk to Kakashi for a minute, I'll meet you at a training field."

Sakura nodded and waved goodbye to her sensei.

"Kakashi, please meet me at the roof." Anre disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Kakashi was rather surprised by Anre wanting to talk and by him not adding his usual sensei in the end.

"So, what do you want to talk about?" kakashi sat down on the railing while Anre was leaning back on one of the water tanks on the roof.

"Kakashi, how many people are there on your team?"

"So, that is what it is all about, don't worry Ibisu is a great teacher."

"Perhaps, but he isn't Narutos teacher, you are."

"I know, but right now Sasuke needs my attention."

"Like Naruto doesn't and by the way there is also Sakura on your team.'

"I know, just right now I need to teach Sasuke to properly use his sharingan and prepare him for his fight with Gaara, you know, he is merciless."

"So is Neji, you saw what he did to Hinata, hurting Naruto will be another way to harm her."

"Ibisu will prepare…"

"Kakashi what have you taught Sasuke while you were his teacher?"

"hmm tree climbing, basics of the sharingan, some taijutsu, lion combo, and a couple of ninjutsu."

"That's great, what did you teach Sakura and Naruto?"

"tree climbing and…..well…I did……."

"Wow that's impressive" Anre was full of sarcasm.

"Anre you have to understand…"

"What I understand is that you were given a squad of three men, all three your responsibility, yet you made a favorite student and forgot about other two."

"I didn't forget about them."

"No? Then how come I taught Sakura the basics of genjutsu and have been helping her, why does Naruto train with Hinata, huh?"

Kakashi lowered his head, he was shamed, but had to admit that a 13 year old genin infront of him was actually right.

"Kakashi, remember what you told us after the bell test?"

Kakashi raised his head.

"If I am not mistaken you are worse than trash Kakashi."

Kakashi was now almost shaking because of shock.

"Dream that Sasuke looses to Gaara, Kakashi, because if he wins, he will face me and I promise I will make Gaara look like a merciful angel. You know I can do that and you know that I will do that, Kakashi."

After that Anre jumped off the roof and raced off.

Sasuke was standing near the gates waiting for Kakashi to take him for his personal training. Finally no one to hold him back, he will get the power he needs. He will have his revenge. To Sasukes surprise he didn't have to wait too long for Kakashi, like usual.

"Hey Kakashi-sensei, lets get going, I want to start sooner."

"Wait Sasuke, I am canceling this training trip."

"What? Why?"

"Well I thought and decided that I should stay and help Naruto and Sakura also."

"Why, you never seemed to be bothered by them before."

Kakashi suddenly stiffned up.

"I am totally not proud of it, now go back to your estate, we will start your training tomorrow after I finish with Naruto."

To say Sasuke was mad was a huge understatement, but there wasn't much he could do except curse Kakashi.

An old man with white hair was in the hot springs. He was near the woman bathhouse and was writing something in his notebook while blushing and giggling.

"Hey Jiraiya."

The old man turned around and saw Kakashi reading one of his books.

"What do you want? You are ruining my research."

"I want to know how do you teach someone the rasengan?"

"Why should I tell you."

"Well, if you don't I will send my ninja hounds to ruin your research everywhere you go."

The old man gulped: "You wouldn't"

"Oh yes I would."

"Fine, there are three steppes…."


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9 The finals and the invasion.

It was a day of the finals. Most of the Konoha citizens gathered at the arena to see the fights. Most of the lords also were here, many making bets on the winners. Hokage was sitting side by side with the Kazekage, or rather Orochimaru in disguise. The plan was to wait for him to make the first move. A this very moment special groups of ANBU were taking out the sound and sand nins outside the village, quietely. Only the large groups were avoided as they were too big to be wiped out silently.

The finalists were lined up in the arena and there was a jounin in front of them with a senbon needle in his mouth. Hokage greeted the audience and motioned the jounin to start.

"Ok, the rules are the same as in the preliminaries. The first match is between Naruto Uzumaki and Huuga Neji, everyone else, please go to the waiting area.

Several minutes later there were only Naruto and Neji left.

"give up loser, it is your destiny to lose today, to me, remember what happened to Hinata."

"Oh shut up, I promised Hinata to beet you and I will, so stop talking it will get you nowhere."

Neji narrowed his eyes and activated his byakugan.

"Fine, then you will be the one to understand what happens to those who struggle against destiny. You will learn the hard way."

Neji charged at Naruto, who immediately created a dozen of shadow clones. Neji stopped and looked around, even his byakugan couldn't tell which one was the real one as each of the clones had his independent chakra system. Neji engaged the clones, but as he destroyed them one by one Naruto created even more, but this time they all jumped into the air and threw several shuriken each at the Huuga. Neji only smirked as he suddenly began spinning releasing chakra from all his tenketsu creating a spinning dome over him. All the shuriken were blocked. The clones then disappeared in a puff of smoke leaving only the real Naruto above the spinning dome of chakra. Naruto dropped gathering chakra in his hand and spinning it around creating a sphere in his hand.

Hokage: "Is that….."

Jiraiya: "Can' be, in a month…."

Hinata: "Amazing…"

Sasuke: "Why him, that jutsu, I can sense it's power, why him?"

Kakashi: 'I hope this will make it up to you, Naruto"

"RASENGAN!"

The spinning ball of chakra collided with the kaiten. The power was too much for it to deflect and the ball dug through Neji's defence. Then came an explosion. When the smoke cleared everyone saw a crater and a prone body of Huuga Neji. Naruto was on the side of the crater. He was breathing heavily and there was a chakra burn on his hand, but in other ways he was fine. Neji was breathing, but was clearly out cold. The jounin checked him and nodded.

"The winner: Naruto Uzumaki"

The arena exploded in cheers, Naruto himself found Hinata and showed her the victory sighn. Then he turned to Neji, who was coming around.

"Desteny exist, I agree with you, but it's not like a road we have to walk with out turning, it is a road with many forks, we choose where we go, nothing is decided."

Neji was carried away as Naruto returned to the waiting area.

In the back of the waiting area Gaara called his siblings.

"We will not attack Konoha."

"Gaara, but why, we have our orders."

"I will not let you, thanks to them I can finally do something I always dreamed of."

"What?"

"Sleep, Temari, and feel feelings other than anger."

Flashback

Gaara was on the rooftops glaring at Anre and Sakura returning from a movie. They both were laughing at something and looked happy. Gaara scowled, he was jealous of them, and for that he hated them, the voice in his head screamed for blood.

"You are a jinchuuriki aren't you." He heard a voice from behind. When he turned around he saw Anre. Gaara was rather surprised and looked back at the figure beside the pink haired girl.

"I am just a water clone, but I have a message for you."

"Speak."

"Well as my creator understands you have a demon sealed inside of you, but your seal is most likely incomplete, the demon is most likely driving you crazy."

"So."

"it can be fixed."

"Don't lie to me, you can't have the knowledge to do it."

"I didn't say my creator could, but there is a man in the village who can, if you are interested speak with the Hokage and tell him I sent you. Remember to tell him also that only Jiraiya should attempt to fix the seal."

"Why should I believe you?"

"You shouldn't, but won't you blame yourself for passing the only chance for your life to become normal, besides, you are not the only one with a burden like that."

"What do you mean."

"Ask the hokage, if he finds it acceptable he will tell and then, perhaps, you will find someone who truly understands your pain. I wish I could, by I can't. I wish you luck jinchuuriki. Being stuck between two worlds I wish you luck to make a right choice between being a demon or a human."

The water clone gave a polite bow and turned to water.

Flashback ends

"You sure Gaara?"

"Yes, and if you harm the leaf I will go against you aswell."

Temari and Kankoruo looked at each other.

"You are our brother Gaara, we are with you, but the leaf is doomed."

"They know."

Gaara ignored the shocked faces of his siblings. Looking at Naruto. "_He is like me, he endured similar pain, yet he is si different. I will never be like that, but I will try hard to feel even if only a small traice of the love he feels for those he loves, to feel but a glimpse of what he gets in return._"

"Temari, Kankoruo, I am sorry."

Temari and Kankoruo exchanged another surprised look, until Kankoruo grinned.

"Don't worry about it, bro."

For the first time in his life Gaara smiled a real smile, not hearing a voice in his head screaming for blood.

"Next fight: Anre against Temari."

Temari quikly jumped on her fan and glided down. Anre jumped down with a flip.

"Begin!" Genma jumped back.

"Don't think that you can defeat me like you did that green clad guy." Temari smirked.

"I agree, I don't think that I will have to use my most powerful jutsus."

"Don't get cocky." Temari smirked and launched at Anre attempting to hit him using her fan as a club.

"Boom." The blow raised a cloud of dust. When it settled everyone saw Anre standing where he was. He stopped Temari's hit like it was nothing, simply raising his hand. Temari pulled her weapon back, but found that it wasn't moving an inch. Suddenly Anre pulled his arm back, ripping the fan out of Temari's hand and then hitting her with it directly in the gut. Temari doubled in half, gasping for air. That was when she felt cold metal pressed against her neck.

"Fine I give up." She said. Anre nodded and dropped her fan next to her.

That fight was followed by the one between Kankoruo and Shikamaru. At first it seemed as Kankoruo was winning, but that was until the puupet master was caught in Shikamaru's shadow imitation tecknique, when the young genious used the shadows in the crater left bu Naruto and Neji. That followed by Shikamaru giving up, as he claimed that he had very little charka left and that it was too troublesome.

"Uchiha Sasuke and Subaku no Gaara, please come down."

Sasuke jumped down, while Gaara took a more traditioanla way, he used stairs.

The fight began with Sasuke attacking Gaara with his taijutsu style similar to that of Lee's. He copied it with his sharingan, but he knew that it wasn't enough. He pushed Gaara back until he retreated in a sphere made of sand. Sasuke smirked. He went through several handseals and gathered chackra in his hand. The chackra then began to resemble lightning. He quikly ran up to the sphere of sand and thrust the hand forward.

"Chidori!"

The spehere slowly collapsed revealing Sasukes hand being stuck in Gaaras chest. To Sasukes shock Gaara then smiled and grabbed his hand, only then Sasuke noticed that it was sand pouring out of the wound and not blood. The real Gaara then appeared behind Sasuke and knocked him out.

"The winner Subaku no Gaara."

As the fourth match was coming the Kazekage excused himself telling that he had to go away for a moment. In several minutes feathers started falling from the sky making the civilians fall asleep. After that sound nins appeared out of nowhere, but to their surprise an even greater number of leaf nins came out of hiding. They engaged, but the sound nins clearly were caugh off guard as they expected an easy victory, but now were cut down one by one.

In the waiting area Dosu didn't even understand what happened when Anre slit his throat and threw his lifeless body off the balcony. He then turned to Kankoruo and Temari and looked at Gaara.

"They are with us."

"Good, I have orders directly from the hokage, all the genin are to help evacuate the civilians and proceed to the sanctuary."

"What about you?" Sakura grabbed Anre's arm.

"I will join you after I help the others fend off the attackers, Gaara, you will help me. Others go."

"Gaara, what is the meaning of this?" Gaara's sensei Baki stood before his former student and Anre. There were several soung and sand shinobi with him at a total of 30 men. Behind them were three huge snakes that were trashing the village.

"I fight for the leaf sensei and if you don't want to die, go away."

Baki's eyes widened in shock. He knew better than provoke Gaara, so did the other sand ninjas.

"Gaara, this is treason."

"I don't care, I have a debt to pay sensei, this is your last warning."

Baki took another step backwards and lowered his head. "Fine, but the leaf will be destroyed Gaara and you know it." After that Baki and the sand shinobi left to fight elsewhere.

"Cowards! They are just brats!" one of the sound shinobi yelled. The next second he fell dead with a dagger between his eyes, another body fell beside his with a similar dagger in his heart.

"You brats will pay for this!" a sound chunin yelled as he charged at Anre, but was intercepted by Gaara's sand.

"Desert coffin. Desert funeral." The sound ninja got surrounded by sand and then crushed sending blood everywhere.

"Gaara, you deal with these goons, I'll go for the snakes."

Gaara nodded and then in awe looked as Anre formed wings, claws and a tail out of pure chakra. The sound shinobi were now having second thoughts about fighting the boys.

"What in hell are you?"

"For some of you I am the last thing you will ever see." Anre practically hissed as his eyes began to glow purple and he charge at an amazing speed leaving an afterimage His claws ripped the chest of his first victim open, tearing out the heart and one of the lungs out of a poor sound shinobi. Second later another got hit in the chest by the spiked tail that turned the sound ninja into a bloody pulp. Not stopping Anre progressed further. His clawed hand grabbed the neck of a female sound kunoichi and ripped out half of it showering Anre in her blood. The next target got half of his face ripped off and the final got his spinal column severad by a clawed hand. As the path was clear Anre began running toward the snakes. The whole process took only several seconds.

The sound ninjas turned around a saw a maniacally grinning Gaara.

"That looked nice, but now it is my turn." The sound nins in horror looked as they were surrounded by Gaara's sand.

While Gaara was having the time of his life playing with enemy ninjas Anre ran towards the snakes. As he got closer he jumped into the air flapping his chakra wings to gain more height. When he got higher one of the snakes noticed him and launched toward, as she thought, helpless prey. But Anre took a deep breath and breathed out a huge cone of fire, the same he used to destroy Haku's mirrors. The burned snake stopped, hissing in rage, while Anre made several hand seals:

"Water element: water spear no jutsu."

The water gathered out of thin air and formed a huge, several meters long spear that went for the snake and pierced it's neck. After the giant serpent began falling twitching in agony the spear desolved to water.

Anre used his wings to land on a roof of a nearby building and went through another serie of hand seals.

"Water element: Water dragon no jutsu."

A water tower on the same roof exploded as the water formed a huge water dragon that immediately wrapped around the second snake's neck. It began to tighten the grip until the constantly streaming water cut off the giant snakes head. The death of the target made the jutsu collapse aswell. The last snake saw the death of her two siblings and in fury charged at Anre, failing to notice a huge shadow. Soon she was crushed by a giant toad with two swords.

"Thought I could lend a hand, though you did pretty well yourself." A man with whire hair riding the toad said.

"The toad sannin?"

"Yes, that is me, the one and only Jiraiya!" the perverted sannin began dancing on one leg as he introduced himself making Anre and several other leaf ninjas present sweatdrop.

The genin quikly released the genjutsu on the audience and helped them get out of the arena. Some of the sound nins tried to stop them but were interesepted by leaf shinobi. The few that made it were taken care of by the genin. One was caught in Sakuras genjutsu and then throw into the wall by a wind strike from Temari. Another received a rasengan from Naruto after having his tenketsu blocked by Hinata.

The crowd ran for the sanctuary in the hokage mountain. The genin maintained order as much as possible. Soon they came to the place and after everyone were inside the entrance was blown up by several chunin waiting for a signal. Inside the genin finally could rest as they were really tired. They heard faint sounds of explosions from outside as they were positioned on the upper level.

Several hours later Kakashi, Jiraiya, Gaara and Anre appeared. Everyone noticed that Kakashi and Gaara were covered in blood, Anre on the other hand looked as if he bathed in it. He stopped Sakura when she ran up to him.

"Show me where is the bathroom around here."

"What happened to you?!"

"well lets just say it got messy." Kakashi answered for Anre, as sakura led him to the bathroom where he took off the upper part of his outfit and cleaned himself up at the sink as much as it was possible. It was the first time Sakura saw his body. She saw that his left hand had a long strange tattoo and that there were several bad looking scars.

"Anre, what's with the tattoo?"

"Oh, this, I use it for a jutsu."

"I see, but we should really get going."

"Yeah, Anre cleaned his shirt as much as it was possible before putting it back on, but kept the vest just holding in his hand as blood was still dripping from it.

They got back when kakashi was finishing telling about the battle.

"….and hokage-sama engaged the traitor Orochimaru. He was helped by two sannin Tsunade and Jiraiya, so the battle was in their favor. Sadly hokage-same lost four fingers on his left hand and no longer will be able to be a ninja. Orochimaru escaped. After that Jiraiya and Tsunade went to help end the battle. That is where he met Anre and Gaara, I joined later."

"So we will be having a new hokage?" Tenten asked.

"Yes, already before the battle it was decided that if hokage-same would have fallen in battle he would be replaced by Tsunade-sama, so now it is only a formality before she becomes the fifth Hokage."

The genin stayed silent letting the information sink in. At the mean time the entrance to the sanctuary was cleared of rubble to allow the civilians to exit and get to the unpleasant job of repairing the damage.

"Today, we are assembled here to honor those who gave their lives for the village hidden in the leaves. From today, their names will be forever engraved into the memorial stone to keep their deeds in our memories…" Tsunade, now wearing an official hokage mantle stood before the crowd of shinobi. Behind her were stationed the portraits of 16 konoha shinobi that died during the invasion. Everyone else were dressed in black, each also holding a white flower. Sarutobi stood in the middle of the crowd, his hand bandaged up, Konohamaru silently standing next to him. The rookie nine were standing next to their senseis, all silent paying respect to those who gave away their lives.

"Why do people have to die grandpa?" Konohamaru asked not turning away from the fifth hokage.

"You see Konohamaru. When people die, that is the end. All their feelings, memories, dreams, cease to exist. All exept one, love. It continiues to live in those who we love and protect, it is forever alive in their hearts and later is passed to later generations. They died, so that the other could live on, and pass their heritage and their dreams to others. For that, they were ready to give their lives away, that is what makes Konoha shinobi exceptional and so strong. The ability to make an ultimate sacrifice, the ability to love."

"I still don't understand completely grandpa."

"Someday you will."

Suddenly a rain drop fell on Konohamaru's forehead, followed by another and soon the sky erupted into rain.

"Even the heaven weep." Asuma muttered earning a nod from Kurenai. Tsunade finished her speech and with a polite bow placed her own flower before the portraits. Others formed a line and sarted placing their own flowers. The elders, Jiraiya, Kakashi, Kurenai and Asuma, Anko and Ibiki, team 10, Sasuke, Anre and Sakura, Naruto and Hinata, Shino, Kiba and Akamaru and others. All silently payed their respect to those who no longer were with them.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10 To look in the face of death.

Sasuke was training outside in the training fields, well actually he was releasing his anger on the training posts. The recent events: Kakashi canceling his personal training, Naruto beating Neji with some strange jutsu, Anre and Shikamaru being promoted to chunin. He was the last Uchiha for pete's sake. He needed power and they were keeping it from him, holding him back.

"I really don't get it, why Orochimaru-sama would need this weakling."

Sasuke turned around and saw 4 nins all wearing sound headbands.

"You looking for a fight?"

"No, we are looking for you." One of the nins said

"What do you want?"

"we come from Orochimaru-sama, he offers you a place by his side and power beyond your wildest dreams."

"Why should I trust that traitor."

"Traitor, no, he just left the village because it was holding him back."

Sasukes eyes widened.

"If you are interested meet us outside Konoha in the evening."

After that the four nins disappeared.

Shikamaru in his new chunin vest was standing next to Anre in front of the new hokage Tsunade. Sarutobi stayed by her as an advisor.

"Nara Shikamaru, Anre, you are called here for an A-rank mission."

Shikamaru woke up from his near falling asleep state, Anre remained calm.

"We have just received news that Uchiha Sasuke has left the village to join Orochimaru, you are to gather as much capable genin as possible and go after him. I will send help as soon as it will be available."

"Hokage-sama…" Anre spoke up "…is it a rescue or elimination mission?"

"It depends, but you are to….eliminate Uchiha Sasuke if necessary."

Anre nodded, but sighed under his mask, he didn't like this mission one bit.

"This will be so troublesome." Shikamaru sighed.

Anre and Naruto were entering the canyon. Everyone else: Shikamaru, Chouji, Kiba, Haku, Gaara and Neji stayed behind to fight some very powerful sound ninjas. Gaara and his siblings became Konoha genin after the invasion.

"Anre, I don't know if I will be able to beat Sasuke."

"We are ordered to stop him, not kill him Naruto, just believe in youself."

Naruto nodded "Thanks, I'll try, but maybe he will come to his sences."

"Maybe, we will find out when we catch him."

Now Anre and Naruto were chasing after Sasuke until suddenly a figure jumped in front of them and stayed standing on the water.

"My, my if it isn't the Konoha genin trying to capture my new student."

Naruto nearly jumped at the traitor

"You bastard I'm gonna kill you, I'm gonna tear your toungue out you snake."

Orochimaru only laughed.

"Naruto, you go after Sasuke I will try to delay him for as long as possible."

Naruto looked at his friend and then ran after Sasuke. Orochimaru tried to follow him, but found a masked chunin in front of him wearing all black.

"You will follow him only over my dead body."

"Oh, I can arrange that."

Orochimaru and Anre engaged in a fierce taijutsu fight. To Orochimaru's surprise his opponent was more then a match. He managed to withstand a hit that had to break his ribs and attacked himself . He jumped in the air throwing swift kicks which Orochimaru blocked, but that made him slide back on the water surface due to their force. Then Anre jumped again, but this time he was spinning in the air until suddenly delivering a thundering kick which made Orochimaru sink up to his ankles in the water. Anre used the momentum to flip and deliver an even more powerful kick that made Orochimaru sink up to his knees.

"Enough games"

Orochimaru's long tongue shot out of his mouth and wrapped around Anre's waist throwing him into the cliff wall. Anre couldn't stop the throw, but grabbed the slimy tongue and made Orochimaru fly after him. They both crashed into the wall, where Anre pulled one of his daggers out and pinned the tongue to the cliff wall. Orochimaru hissed in pain and extended his neck. Anre barely reacted when a sword appeared from his throat and stabbed the wall where he just was. He started dodging until he jumped back and went through several hand seals.

"WATER ELEMENT: WATER NEEDLE RAIN."

Thousands of needles raised from the water and started flying toward Orochimaru. He summoned snakes to block the attack. The snakes wrapped themselves around his body blocking the needles. Orochimaru then pulled out the dagger and some needles out of his tongue and dodged a water spear Anre sent at him.

"Fool, you made me mad."

"Orochimaru bit his thumb and went through several hand seals. Seconds later a giant snake appeared.

"OROCHIMARU! You had better have a good reason to summon me. I expect a hundred human sacrifices."

"Agreed, now kill that brat."

Before Manda could attack Anre bit his own thumb and raised his sleeve. He drew a line across his tattoo.

"Summoning jutsu!"

In a puff of smoke another great serpent appeared. Only this one had legs and a long spiked tail. Its purple eyes radiated with wisdom and his dark blue scales looked unpenetrable. The bat like wings completed the picture.

"It can't be." Manda hissed.

"A dragon." Orochimaru mumbled.

"Anre, I honor the contract, long time since I have been summoned into this realm."

The dragon had a low, pleasant voice.

"I will kill you Dalamar." Manda hissed as he charged at the dragon, only to be thrown back by the strike from a spiked tail.

"GET BACK SNAKE. Your kind never had any honor. You even go as low as demanding sacrifices for being summoned."

"Shut up, Lizard, I am goind to kill you slowly!"

Manda then spit venom, but Dalamar stretched his wings and raised into the air. Anre jumped down from his back.

"Dalamar, push him deeper into the valley, where he can't dodge!"

The dragon nodded and started fireing fireballs from his mouth at the giant snake below. Each fireball caused an explosion, causing rock slides in the valley. Manda was forced to enter the tight spot in the canyon. That is when Anre went through a long line of hand seals.

"WATER ELEMENT: WATER HYDRA NO JUTSU. BEAST OF THE POSEIDON!"

The water began sturring violently, until almost becoming a storm. The seven long columons of water raised and began changing until becoming a giant seven headed snake that with a roar went towards Manda. The water beast entered the canyon destroying the rocky walls around it, creating pure chaos. Anre stood on the top of one of the heads, using charka to stay there.

Orochimaru tried to stop the jutsu:

"FIRE ELEMENT:FIRE DRAGON NO JUTSU."

The snake sannin spit out a huge fire dragon, but it wasn't enough to stop a hydra shaped tidlewave, it only destroyed one head, that then reformed. The hydra wrapped itself around Manda squeezing the air out of the beast. The snake boss was too strong to hold this way, one by one the hydra heads collapsed, but they kept the snake boss still long enough."

"POWER WORD ART: POWER WORD – DEATH!"

Anre dropped to his knees after performing the jutsu, the scroll in his hand went blank, as the giant snake suddenly went limp and dropped dead. Orochimaru was shocked that his Summon got killed.

"Impossible."

Anre looked at the dragon and nodded allowing it to return to his realm.

Orochimaru was now clearly pissed.

"FIRE ELEMENT: GRAND FIREBALL NO JUTSU"

Anre saw a fireball coming at him.

"WATER ELEMENT: WATER BLADESTORM NO JUTSU"

A giant wave raised and formed thousand of water blades coming directly at Orochimaru. His fireball was put out like a candle, and the snake sannin was forced to raise a meter thick wall to protect him self. The power of the jutsu was so high it created a rockslide partly burrieing the remains of Manda. Orochimarus wall stood, although it looked really battered.

Anre was nearing his limit and he knew it. He just hoped he bought Naruto enough time and that help was near.

"You little annoying twerp, I am having second thoughts about who to choose for my body, but sadly you don't have the sharingan, a pity, but I will kill you."

Orochimaru started laughing maniacally before sending several pitons at Anre. He managed to kill two, but the third managed to grab the dagger before he snapped her head. Anre didn't have time to react as he received a hit in the chest from the last snake. While in air he threw several kunai at it with explosive notes destroying it, but crashed into the wall of the canyon. Anre got out of the crater and charged at Orochimaru, who smircked and leaned to the ground, releasing thousands of snakes from his mouth. Resembling a wave they began rolling towards Anre, each had a blade appear out of it's mouth. Orochimaru got up still smircking, but then his eyes shot open in shock when Anre took a deep breath and incinerated the snakes in front of him. He didn't even slow down and suddenly began forming a jutsu Orochimaru never seen before. Anre began gathering chackra around his fist, that soon began resemble water and formed razor sharp blades moving around the fist. Orochimaru smiled, he wouldn't let the brat get near enough to use that.

"BURN!!!! FIRE ELEMENT: FIRE OF HELL!"

Orochimaru smiled as a huge wall of crimson fire raised infront of Anre and the surrounded the charging figure, water began boiling around and with every step Anre felt hot drop land on his clothes. Orochimaru's smile faded when he saw something he never expected. Anre didn't dodge, but only covered his eyes with his left hand as he jumped towards the fire. Orochimaru didn't expect a badly burned figure to come out the other end. Anre's mask and hood have burned away, along with sleeve on his left hand he used to cover his face. The hand was actually still burning. His clothes were badly damaged and still burning in several places. Air got filled with the smell of burnt flesh. With a cry Anre thrust his right hand forward, the water blades now having an electrical pulse in them. The jutsu began to glow bright blue, lightning violently sturrning around Anre's fist, that was coated in thousands of rapidly moving water blades, all having electrical pulse in them. The water began violently sturring around him due to the energy. Finally Anre activated the jutsu to the maximum. The water was pushed away, creating giant walls of water, both sides of him. Orochimaru's fire jutsu faded as it was completely covered by water. The light from the tecknique blinded Orochimaru, the sheer force of charka pushed him back. Anre ran the remaining distance, the power of the jutsu surrounding his fist was immense as it pushed everything away by the sheer magnitude.

Orochimaru almost chocked when he saw a horrble figure launch towards him, one arm covered in crison flames, the body burned and an expression on the face that promised pure agony. The worst part was the blazing purple eyes and the jutsu that shined as the second only blue sun surrounded by lightning. Orochimaru pumped as much charka as he could in his legs and jumped away, sending cracks in every direction from the place he was standing.

"SHOKING FIST!"

Anre's jutsu collided with Orochmaru's left arm, followed by a bright light and a sound of a huge explosion. The power of the jutsu created a long, deep trench in the ground that went up to the cliff and created an almost kilometer long, wide crack in it, practically another canyon. The water blades were sent forward from the fist at an amazing speed, each causing huge damage, and that damage was multiplied by the sheer numbers of water blades. Everything in their path wasn't just destroyed, it was reduced to dust. The justu ripped off Orochimaru's hand sending the battered sannin flying and then skitting over the rocky river bank until crashing into a huge boulder left from a rockslide caused earlier. The ripped limb was reduced to a bloody cloud. If Orochimaru handn't dodged that blow he would most certainly be cut in microscopic pieces, but ended up without a limb and with several deep cuts. Anre after that dropped on all fours. His left hand finally stopped burning, only smoke rising from it and from other parts of his body. Sadly that wasn't enough to finish Orochimaru, who got up from the crater he ended up in. He shakily took a few steppes toward Anre and then delivered a spin kick to his jaw sending him into the cliff wall once again. Then Orochimaru immediately jumped next to him, and hit his leg breaking it. After that a sword appeared again from his throat and pierced Anres left shoulder pinning him to the rocky surface.

Anre could see a smirk over the sannins face.

"And now, shinobi, you die, but I must admit I had fun and don't worry I will destroy the leaf, with sharingan I will be unstoppable."

Anre's vision started to get blurry. Images started flashing through his mind, faces: Kakashi, Naruto and Hinata, Lee, Gaara, Sakura..

"Ready to die?" Orochimary twitched the sword making the wound bigger, tearing up the flesh, blood pouring over the blade.

"No" he heard a faint reply.

"What was that?"

"NO!"

Anre grabbed the blade with his bare hands. His eyes suddenly started glowing purple. A huge amount of chakra came out of his body, forming dragon wings, tail and claws.

"NO!"

Orochimaru tried to pull the sword out, but Anre held tight, his hands bleeding, being badly cut.

"NOOOO!"

Anre sent an electrical pulse through the sword shocking both him and Orochimaru.

Through pain Orochimaru saw Anre taking a deep breath. The snake sannin tried to pull out the sword again, but in vain. He was forced to leave it as Anre breathed out a cone of fire burning the left armless side of Orochimaru's body. Anre then pulled the sword out, his dragon features fading. The moment his blood touched the hilt of the sword the blade began to glow blue. Anre didn't notice it as he tried to move toward Orochimaru.

"RAAAGGHHHH!" Anre roared from pain, but kept on moving, forcing his body to move. Orochimaru saw a figure with wings and tail and wicked looking claws, wielding his own prized sword running towards him.

"Die already!" Orochimaru cried and spat his toungue at Anre, only to get it cut of. Orochimaru hissed in pain and then ducked, avoiding a slash, but Anre spun around and hit Orochimaru with his tail. The snake sannin caughed out blood and felt in every detail how several of his ribs broke. Then orochimaru saw claws made of charka come towards his face. Desperate attempt to dodge saved his head, but still left him with two long cuts across the face. Anre spun around again and this time his tail hit Orochimaru under the chin, breaking the jaw and knocking out several lower teeth. The strike sent Orochimaru rolling down to the river, until stopping just next to the water. Anre took a step forward. Suddenly he felt a rain drop on his forehead and then immediately the sky erupted into a rain. Anre started to feel how tired he already was, then came pain, ubearable pain. Anre felt that it was painful to breath. He still tried walking towards Orochimaru, but his legs failed him and he fell back toward the cliff wall. The body could no longer bear such pain and strain. If Anre could scream he would, but he was still glad that he delayed Orochimaru this long.

The badly injured snake sannin managed to get up. He pulled out a kunai from the barely holding together holster and charged at Anre, who was sliding down the cliff wall leaving a bloody trail, while also caughing out blood, but he was smiling, smiling in the face of death. That is what really made Orochimaru loose head as he, the one who feared death the most, now saw someone who was stronger then him in this matter. The last thing Anre saw was something red and white appearing in front of him. The last sound was a cry "RASENGAN" and a terrible scream full of pain as he drifted away into the darkness, his hand dropping the blood stained sword onto the ground. Second later he himself fell on the ground, his fingers scraping the ground one last time before going limp along with the rest of the body.

Jiraiya and Kakashi have just entered the valley.

"What the hell happened here." Kakashi looked around. The valley looked like there was a full scaled battle here.

"I don't kn…… is that Manda, dead?"

"Yes, it means Orochimaru is near, but the boss summon dead……"

The two ninjas started moving even faster until they saw two figure's fighting. Both recognized Anre and Orochimaru as Anre's tail hit the sannin's jaw. Then the sky erupted into rain and Anre fell back towards the cliff wall and Orochimaru pulled out a kunai. Jiraiya charged the rasengan and jumped in front of the surprised snake sannin, who was now too weak to dodge.

"RASENGAN!"

He thrust the jutsu in Orochimaru's chest drilling through it. The snake sannin screamed in pain, but then Jiraiya released the jutsu inside his body causing a chakra explosion that ripped the body into pieces.

"Kakashi, go after Sasuke, I'll take care of Anre." Jiraiya turned to Anre who had smoke rising from his body.

Kakashi nodded and followed the trail passing the half burried body of a giant snake.

He soon made his way to the end of the valley. There was a small lake there and two giant statues. Long ago two famous ninjas fought here, at the valley of the end. When he got closer to the statues he heard:

"CHIDORI!"

"RASENGAN!"

Then Kakashi felt a huge chakra spike. He hurried to the stutues and saw the prone body of Naruto and Sasuke standing on his knees next to him, the black marks slowly went back to his curse mark, clearly indicating that the sealing Kakashi did was broken.

"Sasuke…"

"He was right Kakashi, I am not like my brother, I don't want to be like him, to kill my friend for power. He… he could've killed me sensei, but didn't, Naruto didn't go for a kill." Sasuke's forehead protector untied and dropped next to him, showing a deep cut across the Konoha symbol.

"Sasuke…"

"I told him that he wouldn't even be able to put a scratch on my forehead, he proved me wrong."

"Sasuke we…."

"I don't know for how long I will be able to maintain control sensei."

Kakashi nodded and knocked the last Uchiha out.

He then checked on Naruto making sure he wasn't in danger. He then pocketed the forehead protector and picked up both boys.

Everyone were now riding a toad Jiraiya summoned. Naruto, Sasuke and Anre were lieing on its back, a puddle of blood slowly growing under Anre, whose face was unnaturally pale, blood coming from his mouth.

"How is he?"

"Bad, very bad."

Jiraiya ripped his sleeve and pressed it against the wound only to get it soaked in blood. He was even afraid to touch the boys left arm. Hell, he was afraid to touch him at all.

"Damn it all, I can't stop the bleeding, he is loosing blood fast, for once I wish I was a medic. We need to get him to Tsunade, this kid must live, even Orochimaru's 'grass cutter' acknowledged him as its master."

Kakashi's visible eye widened. "Where is the sword?"

"I sealed it up, it doesn't let anyone but it's master wield it. The remains of the snake bastard are also sealed up."

Kakashi kneeled before Anre and tried to do his best to stop the blood coming from the wounds on his palms, with little sucsess.

"We need to hurry."

The toad sped up.


	11. Chapter 11

Before starting the chapter a few words about reviews.

A have nothing against critics, but it is too late to change anything, as I am already on chapter 56, as I started writing this fic in October. Those who like my fic, my pleasure, those who don't, well, I respect your judgement. After all, you can't please everyone:))))

Anre might be a powerful character, but he can be beaten, and at least he doesn't defeat others without any effort, like in other fics. In later chapter even the theory behind his jutsus will be explained. Other characters will become powerful aswell, but I will not tell anything else. Besides, Pein and Konan practically destroyed Konoha in the latest chapter of Naruto manga, so a powerful character isn't so bad.

Konoha becoming too powerful, well, perhaps, but I find it logical as sand suffered a military defeat. Giving a powerful shinobi as a way to pay back could be a good way for them. Konoha could demand land, or damages, especially considering the fact of treason. Second, Gaara and his siblings betrayed the sand, so no wonder the sand village does not trust them anymore.

I tried to create an interesting character. His outfit was influenced by those ninjas wear in reality, I only changed it a bit to be suitable for the Naruto world. I tried creating original skills also. But I admit, he is VERY strong, but when I think that Itachi was ANBU at 13 …. Well, you get the picture:)

Chapter 11 Recovering.

"Dear, what's wrong?" Sakura's mother – Rin, looked in concerne at her daughter, who was sitting silently b the window.

"Nothing, it is just that I have a feeling something bad is going to happen, Anre and the other being sent away on the mission doesn't help either."

"Relax dear, you said yourself they were strong."

"Yeah, I guess you are right."

"That's my girl, here, drink some hot tea, it will calm you."

Sakura took the hot cup and took a sip of hot, steaming tea. And then looked out of the window again. As she put the cup down it suddenly cracked. Sakura's eyes grew wide, the next second she ran out of the house heading towards the hospital, not paying any attention to the rain. When she got closer she saw a giant toad moving in the same direction. They got to the entrance almost at the same time. Sakura saw Jiraiya jump down from the toad carrying something in his hands. When Sakura followed she found that there was a blood trail left by the old sannin, or rather something he was carrying.

Sakura was sitting by Anre's bed. She still had a picture before her eyes when he was brought. How Jiraiya carried him to the surgery leaving a bloody trail behind, screaming to the nurses to find Tsunade. She noticed how pale Anre was, his clothes almost destroyed, his visible skin burned in different places, especially his left hand that looked that it was burned over an open fire for several minutes. She remembered how Kakashi dragged her away from the surgery doors as she fought his grip so fiercely that he could barely hold her. She remembered Jiraiya coming out all covered in blood, still clutching his ripped sleeve, blood dripping from the soacked material. Now Anre was in bed all in bandages, breathing through the oxygen mask. Half of his face bandaged up because of the burns. He was hooked to numerous machines showing different life sighns.

"How is he?" Kakashi asked.

There were also Shikamaru, Jiraiya and Tsunade in the room. Tsunade was sitting on a chair, clealy very tired.

"His life is not in danger, but wounds are very serious." Tsunade replied. "He has a broken leg, 6 broken ribs, a dislocated shoulder, several cracks in his elbows, most likely from blocking power hits, lots of burns both from fire and electricity all over his body, damaged lungs from being forced to breath inside open fire, huge blood loss, chakra exhaustion, a piercing wound in his shoulder and deep cuts on his hands. His left hand has suffered massive damage from the fire, 70% of the skin on it burned away, but it will heal eventually. Add to it numerous bruises and cuts. In other words it is easier to name parts of his body that aren't harmed. I am surprised that he even survived, During the surgery, it seemed as if he forced himself to live, but it seems that he will make a full recovery. Though he will wear the scars of this battle all his life."

Sakura only sobbed after that comment.

"When will he wake up?"

"I don't know, but not soon, he is totally messed up."

"Well he did face a member of the legendary three."

"Yeah, now the 'grass cutter' has a new master."

Those who understood what Jiraiya was talking about nodded in agreement.

"How are the others?" Shikamaru asked. He clearly was in a state of shock after the mission.

"Naruto has chakra exautioun and several broken ribs, nothing too serious, except a bad chakra burn on his arm. Neji gave us a fright, we had to use his hair as a medium to forcefully recreate the cells, thought it will take time before he will be able to properly use his body again. Haku got hit by a falling tree, the bones in her legs were almost shattered, I wasted one third of my chakra mending them. Chouji was the hardest case, he ate those Akimichi clan peals, they were eating away his fat and then began to eat away his muscles, good thing the Nara clan had a remedy written down. And after all that Jiraiya brought Anre. Ahhh, I've never been so tired, me and Shizune used up most of our chakra working with him, I mean it was hard to decide where even to start with."

"And Sasuke?" Kakashi asked.

"Compared to others, nothing serious, just a broken arm and bruises, minor chakra exaustioun."

"What will happen to him?"

"There will be a trial, but from your report I understand that the curse mark broke the sealing, so it wasn't totally his fault."

"I see, but it still was his decition."

Tsunade nodded "I think you will be able to visit him soon, after all he is your student, Kakashi."

Kakashi hung his head, he felt that he failed his students. Sakura was here, pale, looking at a battered body of Anre, holding his bandaged hand, that didn't react in any way. Naruto was on the other floor, Hinata and Gaara with him, and his third student was in a prison wing, guarded by ANBU, accused of treason. If that wasn't failing his students, then what was?

Sakura wiped away the tears from her eyes and gasped as she felt Anre's arm weakly tighten the grip on hers.

"Hey Sakura, I heard that Sasuke-kun is in hospital, but I can't seem to find him and the staff won't tell me either."

Sakura turned to her friend, Ino.

"He is in the prison wing, most likely guarded by ANBU."

"Why, I mean he was kidnapped."

"He left on his own free will."

"I don't believe it, why would Sasuke-kun leave the village and especially me." Ino swayed her hips. That made Sakura really mad, because Ino didn't seem to be concerned about anyone else.

"You'd better believe it, as some people nearly died trying to get him back!"

"Huh? Who?"

"You mean you didn't even ask how the others were, well let me tell you. Chouji, your teammate, is critical, Neji has been brought from the other side, Haku has nearly lost her legs and her shinobi career, Naruto is all beat up, Anre nearly bled to death not to mention having his leg and ribs broken and half of his body burned. And do you know why it all happened? It happened, because they were forced to fight high level jounin and sannin foes in order to bring a traitor back here to Konoha. And the only thing you ask me where that traitor is, in order to most likely BRING HIM A BOX OF CANDY AND A GET WELL CARD!!!!!"

Sakura was yelling at Ino with tears in her eyes until finally delivering a slap to the blonde's cheek. A couple of nurses heard the screams, but decided to back up, as Sakura was generating a huge amount of killer intent. Ino was all shaking after that, not even bother by the fact that her cheek was burning.

"S-Sakura I didn't know……."

"You should have known! Just you wait till I get my hands on Sasuke, he is going to need a whole body transplant!" Ino shivered looking at enraged Sakura and somehow didn't doubt that she would actually go on with her threat.

"Sakura, where are the others?"

"Anre is in the room behind me, Neji is on the next floor with Naruto and Haku, Chouji is at the intensive therapy section. But why would you care?"

"Mind if I come in?"

Sakura thought for a moment glaring at her friend until her features softened a bit. Then she nodded, stepping aside. Ino opened the door and gasped when she saw Anre, even bandaged up, he looked horrible to say the least. She came closer and took the medical card. Her eyes widened when she read it. She then put it down while trying to swallow a suddenly formed lump in her throat.

"Have you seen the blood trail at the entrance, Ino?"

The blonde only nodded.

"It's his, Jiraiya-sama was all covered in blood when he carried him. I saw Anre's clothes, or what was left of them. I really don't know how could anyone survive after that, even Tsunade-sama was surprised that he managed to stay alive."

Ino slowly swallowed a lump, finally getting back her ability to breath.

"How is he?"

"How do you think he is? Barely out of critical! He can barely breath!"

"Will he…"

"Tsunade-sama says he'll be fine, though he has a long way to full recovery."

"What happened to him?"

"He stayed behind to face Orochimaru, the snake sannin, to give Naruto a chance to bring that bastard Sasuke back. Jiraiya-sama said that he was still trying to fight in this condition. Imagine, fighting after all that, fighting with your body burning and a freaking sword in your shoulder, your bones broken, not even being able to properly breath!" Sakura was yelling again, she never felt this mad. She was almost ready to strangle the girl.

"I am sorry Sakura I didn't know." Ino burst our crying and Sakura now instead of being angry began to feel sorry for her friend.

"Calm down Ino, they will all be fine, no one have died or anything."

"But look at me, I feel like some terrible freak, they all tried so hard and look at them. I never thought about anyone but Sasuke-kun and he turned out to be a traitor, heck, I feel like a traitor."

"You aren't a traitor, you are just confuced, I was aswell."

"Sakura, how did you get over Sasuke-kun?"

"Anre just asked me a simple question. He asked me why I liked Sasuke and I couldn't answer."

"Ino stopped sobbing.

"I see, you do love Anre, don't you?"

"Yes I do, I do."

Sasuke woke up only to notice that he was in hospital and that his hands and legs were chained to the bed. Only after several minutes he noticed his sensei standing in the room, leaning back on the wall. His usual bored expression was now gone, replaced by an expression of disappointment.

"Kakashi-sensei?"

The masked jounin remained silent. That silence was disturbing, Sasuke would've preferred to be yelled at.

"At least say something." He cried in frustration.

"Why should I?"

Sasuke didn't answer.

"I am disappointed in you Sasuke."

"I know, I left the village."

"Not just that, that only makes you trash, but you did something even worse, you left your teammates behind."

Sasuke lowered his eyes "_Worse than trash_." He remembered the words that now rang in his head.

"So if you what you are, should I be talking to you?" Kakashi asked. Sasuke didn't answer, but decided to ask something else instead.

"How is Naruto?"

"He'll be fine, you at least managed to do the right thing in the end Sasuke, maybe you are not completely lost cause."

"I am sorry sensei, I really am, it is just that voice in my head, it persuaded me to go and I was so mad, that I listened to it."

"Mad? About what? About other not being weaker than you?"

"Sort of."

Kakashi sighed. "Your ego got the best of you, something no ninja should allow, though it wasn't entirely your fault, the curse mark did its share."

"Did you reseal it?"

"No need, with Orochiaru dead it will fade away in time."

"Dead, who killed him?"

"Jiraiya did, after the fight with Anre the snake bastard was to week to oppose the fresh Jiraiya."

"And what about Anre?"

"He'll live, but I'd be glad that you are guarded by ANBU if I were you."

"Why is that?"

"Because if Sakura gets in here, she will rip you to pieces, glue them back and rip apart again. The fact that Anre is barely out of critical is your fault afterall." Kakashi rubbed his chin remembering how Sakura punched him there with her elbow when he dragged her away from the surgery. He was certain there was a bruise under the mask. When in fury the girl could really be strong.

"That bad?" Sasuke asked.

"Actually, a whole lot worse, now rest, you'll have a trial soon."

"Wait! Did anyone else get hurt?"

"Oh, showing concern about others, good sign. As for your question, should I list only those who nearly died, or all those who got hurt in any way?" Sasuke hung his head. He now hated himself, if his hands weren't chained to the bed he would have punched himself right now.

"Here, I believe this is yours." Kakashi threw something on the bed. And then slowly left the room. Sasuke looked down and saw that it was his old forehead protector, with a deep long cut across the village symbol. It looked strange, like a forehead protector of a missing nin, indicating that he had cut off all his ties with his old village, just like his brother has.

"Grandpa, what are you doing?"

"Oh, nothing Konohamaru, just remembering something." Sarutobi put the picture he was holding on the table.

"Like what?"

"The old days, my old genin team. My later students."

"Students? You never told me about them."

"Well, you I suppose saw two of them, Tsunade and Jiraiya."

"Wow, you were the sannin teacher Grandpa? Cool. Who was the third?"

"Oh, he died a long time ago for this village, don't want to talk about it."

Konohamaru blinked not understanding, but nodded.

"How about I teach you something, now I have more time."

"Really?"

"Yeah, really."

"Yay!" konohamaru cheered.

"Go to the yard, I'll come shortly."

"Ok" the kid ran to the yard tripping on his long scarf on the way. Sarutobi took the picture again with his right hand, the left was bandaged up, missing several fingers. The picture showed a much younger Sarutobi and Tsunade, Jiraiya and Orochimaru, when they were still genin.

"Stupid, stupid apprentice. You never learned the main lesson I taught you. You never understood the power of the leaf." He mumbled and put the picture into the drawer of the desk.

"Ugggh…..where am I? Sasuke!" Naruto jumped up in his bed only to be pulled back by two soft, yet strong hands. Naruto turned his head and saw the concerned face of Hinata.

"Naruto-kun, please stay calm, you need to rest."

"But, the mission…."

"It is alright. Sasuke was brought back."

"I thought that I lost."

"Kakashi and Jiraiya-sama came just in time."

"Oh, that's a relief, how are the others?"

"Some of our friends got hurt, but they all will recover in time."

Naruto finally relaxed and looked over himself, noticing bandages on his chest and hand.

"whoah, I guess I got badly hurt also."

"Tsunade-sama said that when you wake you shouldn't try to stand or strain yourself."

Standing up and getting dressed was actually the first thing on Naruto's mind, but seeing Hinata's concerned eyes he decided that he could stay in bed for a while.

"Ok, I won't." Suddenly Naruto remembered something. "Wait, Anre left to fight Orochimaru, where is he?"

"It is alright Naruto, Anre was hurt, but will be fine, Sakura is with him right now."

Naruto breathed out in relief yet again. He really hated to leave Anre to face the snake sannin all alone. But atleast it was all fine now.

Two weeks later Anre started to wake up. The first thing he saw was something pink. He then recognized Sakura when his sight focused.

"Hi."

"Hi, OUCH."

Sakura immediately released Anre from her hug.

"Sorry, how do you feel."

"It hurts actually, badly."

"Where?" Sakura looked worried.

"Come to think of it everywhere, and it is a little hard to breath."

"Wait, I'll go find Tsunade-sama."

Several minutes later Sakura returned with Tsunade. Who before asking anything started using some medical jutsu to lessen the pain.

"So, you are awake, how do you feel?"

"Like a wreck to be honest."

"Well, that's logical, what were you thinking facing Orochimaru."

"And what was I supposed to do?" Rising the voice made Anre cough out blood, which in return caused sharp pain in his chest. He soon stopped caughing and looked questionably at the hokage. Tsunade didn't find what to answer, so only helped Sakura wipe away the blood.

"How are the others?"

"All are fine, though Haku, Neji and Chouji gave us some hard time, we almost lost them."

"What about Naruto and Sasuke.'

"Naruto is fine, I discharged him today, so I'd expect guests if I were you. As for Sasuke he is in the prison wing, waiting for trial, though I think he will get off easy, since the curse mark broke the seal after all."

"I see and Orochimaru is dead I presume."

"Yes and you will share the bounty for him with Jiraiya."

"And how much is that?" Sakura asked.

"4 million. He was an S-ranked missing nin after all, you will also be paid for completing an S-ranked mission and it will go into your records. Oh, and dealing with an S-ranked missing nin automatically gives you a rank of a jounin, congratulations."

Both Sakura and Anre had their mouths open.

"Oh and almost forgot, this is yours."

Tsunade placed a scroll on the table by the bed.

"What is it?"

"Orochimaru's sword the 'grass cutter' is sealed in this scroll, it seemed it chose you as its master. Jiraiya made a blood seal, using your blood, there was more than enough of it on him."

"I see."

"Ok, now rest, Sakura you can stay, just don't move him." She then thought for a moment "And try not to touch him too much also."

"Thank you Hokage-sama."

Tsunade left leaving Anre and Sakura together.

In the next couple of hours Anre got several visitors. First came Naruto and Hinata. Naruto still had one of his hands bandaged up, but in other ways was fine. Hinata clung to him like being glued.

"So Anre, how do you feel?" Naruto asked grinning.

"Fine, as much as it is possible due to my condition."

"Glad to see you awake."

"Yeah, I am also glad to be with the living, though it is still hurts to even turn my head."

"A-anre-kun, Naruto-kun said that you stayed to fight Orochimaru." Hinata stuttered, but compared to her academy days, she had great progress on that, and she didn't blush like crazy and faint in front of Naruto now.

"Yeah, he did and almost won by the way." Sakura said proudly.

Naruto exchanged the surprised look with Hinata.

"Yeh, it seems so, but I should thank Jiraiya-sama for coming in time, if it wasn't for him Orochimaru would have finished me."

"Anre you have only recently been promoted to a chunin, you even surviving is amazing, not to mention pushing the snake sannin to his limits."

"Yeah, I guess, but I am no longer a chunin."

"Huh?" Naruto was dumbstruck.

"Tsunade has promoted Anre to a jounin." Sakura said.

Naruto's face turned into one big foxy grin. "Well congratulations, you deserve it."

Hinata nodded in agreement. After that Anre was forced to tell them the story of how he fought and promising to show his dragon summons. Naruto then told about his fight with Sasuke, skipping the part with the Kuubi's chakra. After that Naruto and Hinata said their goodbyes and left promising to come the next day.

The next pair of guests was surprising for both Anre and Sakura. When after a short knock the door opened they saw a man with short black hair and a woman with long pink hair.

"Mom? Dad?" Sakura turned to the visitors.

"Hello dear." The woman said.

"What are you doing here?"

"well you told us a lot about your friend and we felt necessary to come and see him, you must be Anre." The woman turned to the wounded figure on the bed.

"Yes, pleased to meet you missis and mister Haruno."

"the pleasure is all ours, we are glad our daughter has a friend like you."

"Thank you."

"We would also like to congratulate you on becoming a chunin."

"A jounin mom, Tsunade has given him a promotion for a fight with Orochimaru."

Sakuras parents were amazed.

"you mean you friend here fought the snake sannin and lived?"

"Yep and pulled of a good fight too."

Sakuras mother had to sit down after that, while her husband fought an urge to take a smoke.

"Well that is amazing to say the least, umm Sakura, could we speak with Anre for a while?"

Sakura was surprised, but nodded and left the room.

"Anre, do you like our daughter?" Sakuras father asked.

"Yes, if I'd have to, I would have gone through the fight with Orochimaru again for her."

"good answer, then you have our blessing to court with her."

Anre smiled a nodded.

"But I expect you to come for dinner to our house once you are out of the hospital."

"It will be my pleasure."

When Sakuras parents left she asked Anre about their talk.

"What did you talk about."

"Oh, nothing much, just your mother invited me to a dinner when I get out of here."

Tsunade hated to report to the council. But here she was in front of the council members and the leaders of all major clan of Konoha. She has just finished giving her report on the matter of the recent mission to retrieve Uchiha Sasuke.

"So now we have to decide what to do with the lat of the Uchiha."

"Yes, but I had Jiraiya study the curse mark and the sealing that Kakashi did, it seems that the curse mark not only corrupted the chakra system, but also made all the dark thoughts even darker. To put it easy, the curse mark was one of the reasons Uchiha Sasuke left the village, but it was his own decidion."

"So if he wound have had a curse mark he still would have left."

"Yes, most likely, he is driven only by the desire to get revenge."

"So it seems, but we can't let him leave again, the sharingan must be kept inside the village."

"I agree, but to keep Sasuke in the village we must give him a reason to stay, as I understand he left because he felt inferior to others, namely Uzumaki Naruto and Anre."

Tsunade looked at the folder in front of her for a second.

"Then we must make him feel superior." One of the council members named Homura said. "I Suggest promoting him to a chunin and demoting Shikamaru Nara and Anre back to genin."

Most of the council was outraged by that offer. Huuga Hiashi stood up.

"Listen to what you suggest: reward the traitor and punish the heroes."

"It has to be done for the village."

Tsunade slammed her fist into the wall creating a small crater.

"I will not feed that boys ego! I will not demote someone who received the rank of a jounin just for being better than the Uchiha."

"What do you mean a jounin?" Homura asked.

"Anre has been promoted to a jounin."

"What for?"

"I already told the council that he went on par with Orochimaru, a sannin level shinobi, an S-rank missing nin, the otokage of the hidden sound."

"You can't promote anyone without the agreement of the council." Homura yelled.

"I only obeyed the law, that says that any shinobi who beats an S-rank missing nin is to become a joinin"

There was silence.

"If you still think it is not fair I ask the council to vote on this, those in favor of the promotion raise hands."

Most of the council members did. So Homura had to stand down.

"Then how about making Jiraiya Sasuke's teacher."

"Jiraiya will never agree to this and will not obey the council, he has a hermit status thus he can not be ordered around."

"Then what do you suggest Tsunade-sama?"

"I suggest putting him on probation and inlist him on team 7 again, as far as I am concerned he has to prove us that his is worthy of being a Konoha shinobi. He owns a debt to Konoha, not the other way around."

Most of the council agreed with the hokage.

"Anre, don't push yourself too hard."

Anre and Sakura were walking in the yard around the hospital. Usually Anre was moved around in a wheel chair, but once in the yard he preferred walking. Instead of crouches he used Sakura for support as his left hand couldn't support anything heavier than a spoon yet. He also tired out quikly as he also had to avoid stepping on his broken leg.

"YOSH, our youthful friend is already walking, showing us his youthfulness." Anre looked up and obviously saw Lee. Behind him Neji in a wheel chair, that was pushed by Tenten.

"Hi guys, good to see you. How are you Neji?"

"fine, but I hate this wheel chair. Tsunade-sama doesn't let me walk yet, because as she says the newly created muscles aren't strong enough yet."

"My youthful friend, how about letting me push your chair, to let our lovely teammate rest."

"LEE, DON'T COME NEAR MY WHEEL CHAIR!" Neji looked freaked out.

"What's his problem?" Sakura asked as she and Anre got closer and she helped the new jounin sit down on the nearby bench. The little walk already made Anre breath heavily.

"Oh, nothing." Tenten waved off. "Just two days ago Lee gave Neji such a ride on the wheel chair, it nearly sent him back into coma. You see the green idiot took his weights off." Neji shivered remembering his ride through the hospital.

"I only tried to cheer my youthful friend up." Said Lee.

"Lee, next time think a little before doing something." Neji said .

"I heard Chouji got discharged today, along with Haku."

"Yeah, Haku was picked up by that guy with a huge sword."

"That must've been Zabusa, he is her official protector after all." Anre mentioned from his bench, finally regaining his breath.

"Ok, you boys sit here, while me and Sakura go get something to drink, Lee, you stay too." Tenten ordered.

The girls went to a shop just outside the hospital, leaving the boys talking about the recent events.

"So, how is Neji doing?"

"Fine, Tsunade keeps saying that if a hit would come a centimeter lower he'd be dead instantly, and how's Anre, heard he got promoted to a jounin."

"Yeah, he was promoted. He is also healing quikly, though Tsunade keeps him on painkillers all of the time."

"That bad?"

"Yeah, the burns usually are painful, his arm is killing him."

"Good thing he is going to heal eventually."

"Yes, you can't imagine how relieved I was when Tsunade said that he was going to be alright.

"I never expected that a mission to retrieve Sasuke would end this badly."

"Neither did I."


	12. Chapter 12

A bit of humor in this one.

Chapter 12 Some peace at last.

Kakashi was observing Naruto and Sasuke sparring. After the incident he had to admit Sasuke changed for the better. He was still seeking revenge on his brother, but that was understandable, the difference was that now he had other thoughts in his head aswell. He didn't want to become like his brother to get revenge, he realized that in seeking power no matter what made him no better then the person he seeked to destroy.

When he was released from the hospital there was a trial which sentenced him to a year long probation. He didn't know, but there was always an ANBU operative watching him everytime he was alone. So he considered himself lucky.

Sasuke's overall personality didn't change on the outside very much, he was still quiet and sometimes rude, but now you could also see gestures of good will coming from him. He helped others get up from sparring, shared lunch, was more human like to put it easy.

While observing a sparr Kakashi didn't notice two figures approaching.

"Hey guys, look who's here." Kakashi recognized Sakuras voice, when he turned around he indeed saw the pink haired girl, but next to her was another person, in which he recognized Anre. Sakuras hand was around his waist whie his was on her shoulder, to keep steady, Anre was still shacky and weak, having trouble to walk around a lot by himself. The new jounin was wearing the same type of outfit as earlier, only this one was brand new, because the old one was beyond repair. The only new feature in his outfit was a sword on his back in which Kakashi recognized the 'grass cutter', and a glove on his left hand.

The boys stopped the fight and Naruto rushed to the nin in black.

"Hey, good to see you, so granny Tsunade discharged you?"

"As you can see, good thing I ordered a new outfit in advance."

"Care to join us for a spar?"

Anre smiled when Naruto received a hit on his head from Sakura.

"Idiot, he was just released from the hospital."

"Yeah, sorry Naruto, but I still have trouble moving my left arm." Anre raised his sleeve to show that his arm was still bandaged up."

"Oh, sorry about that." Naruto took a step back afraid of getting another hit from Sakura.

"So, Anre, I heard you are a jounin now." Kakashi mentioned.

"Yep, but I will still join you and other genin teams on mission, only now as second in command, to get experienced."

"I see, good to have you back."

"Thanks, hey Sasuke, how have you been doing?"

"Fine." Sasuke didn't want to look at Anre, now because of being shamed, Sakura told him how badly he and the others got injured, after nearly strangeling him.

"Good to hear, mind if I sit around while you guys train?"

"No, not at all."

Kakashi motioned to Naruto and Sasuke to go back to sparring, while Sakura was ordered to practice genjutsu with Kakashi. Anre sat down near a tree and pulled out a blank scroll.

Two weeks later Anre started training with Hayate to master his new sword and with Zabusa to pick up more water based teckniques. He also recreated the tattoo on his left, now badly scarred hand. He was just returning from his training when he bumped into Naruto, Kiba and Shikamaru.

"Hey Anre, we were just looking for you."

"Oh, what do you want guys."

"Well we were thinking about throwing a big party at the hot springs to celebrate everyone out of the hospital. We also want to invite the girls."

"I'd be happy to come and I am sure Sakura will agree aswell."

"Great, we plan to book the whole resort for Saturday, we can afford it, after all we did receive the payment for an S-ranked mission."

"Great, I'll pay my share."

"Great, well see ya."

The girls have just finished changing and now were entering the hot spring, the boys were still changing. The girls entered the hot water, relaxing, feeling the pressure of the last few days leaving.

"I don't know who thought of this, but coming here was a great idea, I haven't relaxed in days." Tenten had an expression of true pleasure.

"What did you do?"

"Well, actually nothing special, just usually I was training mostly with Neji, but since he was stuck in the hospital I was forced to train mostly with Lee and Gai-sensei, I knew they were nuts, but man they are freaks, always talking about the flames of youth and giving each other a hug, heck they even tried to hug me." Tenten shivered.

Te girls could only pity her.

"So Sakura, how did you end up with Anre?" Ino smirked looking at now red Sakura, and it wasn't the heat that made her red.

"Oh, it just sort of happened, we became close after the mission to the wave."

Now it seemed to happen so long ago, but in reality barely several months passed.

"Yeah, I remember, he taught you the basics of genjutsu." Haku mentioned with her eyes closed. She was still on leave after getting out of the hospital. Ino wanted to ask something more when the boys started coming in. The girls noticed fresh scars on Neji's shoulder and stomack. Chouji looked thinner then before the mission, but now was getting back to his original shape or actually the lack of it. Ino and Hinata gasped when they saw Anre. Usually they saw him wearing his combat gear, maximum revealing his face and hands, but in the hot spring he as all boys wore simple trunks. Now they saw his body after the recent battle. He was covered in scars, most from burns. There was a fresh red scar on his shoulder and two on both his palms. The worst sight was his left hand, because it actually looked like one big scar with a tattoo over it. There was even a small scar on his neck just below the left cheek.

"sakura, are you sure you want to be with him, look, he is all scarred like a wreck." Ino whispered to her pink haired friend, bur received such a huge amount of killer intent that she almost considered drowning herself.

"Say that again and I promise, you will have scars all over your face, only those will not be from a great battle showing your worth, just the opposite."

Temari who was sitting next to them almost shivered at that replica after she imagined the not so pretty picture. Though she quickly became mad after getting splashed in the face when the usually hyper active Lee entered the water, or rather ran into it and then jumped up yelling "HOT, HOT, HOT!"

"Well what do you know the water in the hot spring is actually hot:"Said Sasuke slowly getting into the water."

"My, my, Sasuke made a joke." Kiba smirked getting into the water himself, ordering Akamaru to stay out of the water. The pup wasn't against it, he didn't like water much, especially hot. Sasuke smirked, but didn't reply in any other way.

Naruto got in next to Hinata, while Temari moved to give Anre room next to Sakura. Anre was glad to get into the water, as he felt uncomfortable when everyone were looking at his arm.

"I wonder when the next chunin exam will be and where."

"They will be in Suna in four and a half months." Gaara said. He was still rather quiet, but opened up a lot compared to his old self. He also got close with Naruto. He was now a lot easyer on the eyes as he lost those black circles under his eyes caused by his insomnia.

"Great, I am sick of being a genin." Kiba said.

"You are kidding right? Most of us have just been genin for less then a year." Ino made her point.

"Yeah, but I am already sick of it, I should have become a chunin after this years exams."

"Kiba, you didn't even get past the prilimary round. Your flames of youth aren't bright enough yet."

"Oh chill it, it was an accident that I lost to Naruto, anyway, he is just a doofus."

"Kiba, I'd take that back." A quiet voice came from a person beside him. Even in the hot springs Shino was wearing his glasses.

"Oh, c'mon Shino what the blondie's gonna do?" Kiba looked at Naruto who was steaming with anger.

"I wasn't talking about him."

Only then Kiba noticed the expression on hinata's face, her byakugan active and her mouth curved into an evil smile. Naruto gulped when he looked at her, Sakura moved closer to Anre, Neji smirked and kiba paled even though he was sitting in hot water. The next thing he knew he was flying through the wall. The thing was, that he not only broke through the wall, but also crashed into someone behind it.

"EEEK A PERVERT." Cried Sakura when she saw Jiraiya getting out from under a knocked out Kiba.

The boys immediately surrounded the old man.

"You aren't gonna hit an old man, are you?" Jiraiya smiled innocently.

"No, we won't" Naruto answered.

"Oh. Thank you, I knew I could get understanding from other men."

"But I wouldn't wouch for them" Sasuke pointed at the girls who were raising from the water, pure rage on their faces. Jiraiya tried to run away from the harpies in swimsuits, but noticed that he couldn't move. Shikamaru used his shadow possession jutsu.

"This is going to be so troublesome."

"Mercy?" Jiraiya pleaded. But girls only shook their heads, smiling sadistically. Tsunade was going to get a serious case of a "beat up old pervert" to heal in the hospital.

At this time a strange meeting was held in a dark cave in the mountains of the rock country.

"So, Orochimaru is dead." An image of a tall man said.

"Yes he was killed by his old teammate, the toad sannin." Replied a strange combination of a man and plant.

"Good, that makes things less complicated, seek out the bijuu containers, time to begin our quest. Lets start with the nine tails one. Should we fail we will go into hiding again, we can't let to many information about us leak out."

"Yes, leader-sama." The rest of the figures bowed.

"Hey Naruto, remember our talk while on mission to the wave?" Anre and Naruto were returning from training. Anre was practicing using his new sword, while Naruto and his clones tried to dodge.

"Ummm, we talk much and it was long ago." Naruto scratched his head.

"I mean a talk about orange being a not so good color for a ninja."

"Yeah, I remember it."

"So?"

"So what?"

"Will you change your outfit or not?"

"It's not like I wouldn't, it is just most of the shops either throw me out or overcharge me, I don't feel like paying my monthly salary for a t-shirt."

Anre knew that Naruto was often mistreated, but this was something out of the line already.

"Ok. Then how about we go together?"

"You think that you coming will change anything."

"I am sure I will be able to 'persuade' them."

"Well if you insist, but I…." Naruto went silent

"What?"

"Nevermind."

"Fine, lets go, that seems like a nice place." Anre turned to a shop.

"What? Now?"

"The sooner we start the better."

"But I don't have any money with me."

"I have, you'll return me later, or even better consider it a gift of good will."

Naruto sighed and followed Anre.

"Ah, good day, how may I help you?" the shop owners smile faded when he saw Naruto entering the shop after Anre.

"My friend here needs to change his outfit. He needs nice clothes for a reasonable price. Do I make myself clear?" Anre reliaced a small amount of killer intent at the owner, which was more then enough to make his swallow all the insults he wanted to throw at Naruto and forget about throwing him out.

"C-Certanly."

Naruto started walking through the rows of clothes.

"Naruto, you take your pick, I need to speak with he owner." Anre led the shopkeeper into the back.

"Now listen here, if he comes, you serve him and ask a fair price, I suggest you tell other shop owners the message. If I hear that he is being mistreated I am going to do something that all of your body will look like this." Anre took off his glove and showed a horribly scarred hand to the frightened shop owner who could only nod.

"good, you will only benefit from this, after all he is another customer."

Half an hour later Naruto came out of the dressing room wearing dark cargo pants, a grey T-shirt and a simple dark green vest. He also had wristbands on his hands.

"Well?"

"Great, lets go pay the man."

The shop owner took the money and even managed to force a smile on his face asking to come again.

"That wasn't so bad." Naruto and Anre were once again walking down the street.

"Glad I could help, hope Hinata will like it."

"Yeah, me to, actually I mostly did it for her."

"Heh, indeed love makes people do the things they wouldn't have done any other time. Risk even death if necessary."

"Yep, we are two lucky guys."

"Indeed we are, indeed we are."


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13 A new mission.

"Team 7 and team 8 I have called you here to tell you that I have a C-rank mission for you, actually there are two missions. One to defend a merchant caravan, another to defend the owner of the caravan and his family." Tsunade ordered told the two teams in front of her.

"But hokage-sama….." Kiba started "……You've sent Kurenai-sensei to a diplomatic mission to the Sand."

"I am well aware of that, she is negotiating to reestablish the alliance, and as I've heard she is doing a good job, Suna is even sending Gaara's old sensei Baki to continiue training his old team, a jesture of good will from Suna, sort of. As for your team leader, that is why I called Anre here as well, being a jounin he will take temporary command over your team, but overall command will be with Kakashi, do I make myself clear." Tsunades voice was cold, not tolerating any objections, which Kiba certainly had. "You all are to meet with the caravan outside the city gates tomorrow early in the morning. Dismissed."

The group of shinobi nodded.

"So, everyone present?" Kakashi looked around and saw that everyone indeed were, most of his own team came early, except for Naruto. "Good, then lets go meet our employer."

The caravan owner turned out to be a well built man in his mid fourties. He was dressed in expensive robes and wore a black beard.

"Greetings, my name is Hutoko Kizashi, and this is my chief of guards, Kamirihi Ruo." The merchant pointed at a tall man dressed in typical samurai armor.

"Pleased to meet you Hutoko-sama, I am Hatake Kakashi and this is my team and the other team you requested."

Kizashi looked around the genin and a jounin with a skeptical look, but nodded.

"So, shall we discuss the defence plan?" Kakashi interrupted the silence.

"Certanly." The merchant went out of stupor.

"Good, Anre any suggestions?" Kakashi was told by Tsunade to give the new jounin opportunity to get more experience as a squad leader.

Anre looked at the merchant and then at the caravan behind him, getting ready to set off.

"That carriage is your and your families I presume?" Kizashi nodded.

"Ok, I suggest Kakashi-sensei, Naruto and Sakura to be placed near it. Naruto, in case of the attack create clones and transform them into copies of the Hutoko-sama and his family, Sakura, you are to cover them in genjutsu and work as a support." Sakura noticed long ago, that when it came to work Anre left little to personal feelings, but she saw his eyes smiling when he looked at her.

"Kiba and Sasuke are to protect the rear of the caravan, Shino and Hinata stay with me in the middle. Shino I want your bugs to patrol the territory in the 300 meter radius at all time. Hinata, scout the area for anything suspicious in a 500 meter radius every hour. Shino, I also want your bug on every member of the Hutoko-samas family."

"Wow, Anre, that is something I'd expect from Shikamaru." Naruto scratched his head.

Anre looked at him and then mimicked Shikamaru's lazy expression: "Troublesome."

"Anre!" Sakura fumed.

"Sorry Sakura, couldn't resist."

Kakashi thought for a moment and the nodded. "I agree with this plan, how about you Hutoko-sama, Kamirihi-sama." The chief of guards nodded, while his boss asked:

"What does he mean, bugs?"

"Oh, Shino here is from Aburame clan, he uses bugs to complete tasks, don't worry you will not see or even feel them."

"The merchant nodded and went to his carriage.

The caravan was already moving for about 4 hours, nothing interesting happening. Naruto was walking not too far from the carriage when he was approached by the son of the merchant who got out of the carriage. He was a blond boy the same age as the genin.

"So, you are a shinobi?"

"Yep." Naruto pointed at his forehead protector.

"Yeah, I see, I want to ask you something."

"Ask away."

"Well, that pink haired girl with you……"

"You mean Sakura? What about her?"

"Is she, ummmm, available?"

Naruto nearly tripped when he heard that. "Why do you ask something like that?"

"Well, she is pretty, and I like to be surrounded by beautiful things."

"She is not a thing, she is a person you know."

"Yeah, yeah, is she available?"

Naruto didn't like the spoiled kid one bit. "No, she is not."

"Oh, so she is taken then?"

"You heard me."

"Well, no matter, there is nothing money can't buy."

The merchants son then slowed down to get closer to Sakura.

"Hello, my name is Kora."

"Sakura, pleased to meet you." Sakura answered in a neutral tone.

"What does a pretty girl like you working as a shinobi?"

"I like what I do."

"Being a shinobi is no place for a woman."

"I do not agree."

"C'mon, I can take care of you, why not ditch your stupid friends and this job, I can buy you anything you want."

"I am not for sale Kora-sama, and I am not interested in you, I am only protecting you because i was ordered to."

The merchants son was taken back by a called reply, since this was a first time he was rejected.

"How dare you deny me?!"

"Easy, I just do." Sakura sped up leaving a very mad boy behind. Several minutes later she was approached by another shinobi, who whispered something to her. Then when Kora turned around he was suddenly tackled by her.

"Whoah, you should have just asked, no need to be so impatient." The boy received a slap on his cheek and was pulled up and thrown into the carriage by Sakura. He managed to notice an arrow in the ground where he was standing, understanding why the girl threw him to the ground.

"Stay here." Sakaru told him and his parents. Through the window he saw that several well armed men appeared on the road. The one in the middle spoke.

"Hand over the Hutoko family and everyone else will be spared."

"A bold statement for a group of five men." Kakashi stepped forward, while Naruto prepared to create clones and Sakura prepared a genjutsu. The man in front laughed.

"Five? Trust me you are surrounded by more then a hundred of my men."

"Actually we only counted 68." Everyone turned to a new voice, which came from Anre standing on a tree near the bandits. On the other side of the road Hinata and Shino appeared from the forest.

The bandit leader put two fingers in his mouth and whistled, but to his surprise nobody came from the forest.

"What did you do to my men!"

"You are in no position to demand anything, now drop your weapons." Kakashi took another step forward.

"Like hell we will." One of the bandits next to his leader pulled up hiss bow. The next second two shuriken cut the bow into three pieces and the arrogant thug was suddenly attacked by a swarm of bugs, quickly leaving him unconscious on the ground. After that the rest of the bandits dropped their weapons, including their leader. Anre jumped down and put his two daggers around the bandit leaders throat.

"Who hired you?"

"Do you know what will happen if I answer?"

"No, but I know what will happen if you don't." Anre wincked at Shino who stepped forward. A huge amount of bugs started crawling out, the sight wasn't pretty at all, everyone except the ninjas were freaked out.

"Ok, ok, just keep him away, I was hired by Mitsomu, he is a business man from the country of tea."

"Why does he want Hutoko-sama dead?"

"I don't know, he pays, we kill, we don't ask questions."

After the answer Anre knocked the bandit out, the same happened to the rest.

The caravan made camp not too far from the place where the incident with the bandits took place. Their leader and the rest of the bandits were tied up, the caravan guards went into the forest and brought back the others who were only knocked out, though there were several bandits with slit throats.

"So Hutoko-sama, tomorrow we will reach the border where we will meet the nins from the hidden mist, they will protect you on their territory." Kakashi and Hutoko were discussing the day in the merchants tent, while the rest were preparing for the night.

"Yes, I thank you for your services, payment will be transferred in full, and besides thanks to you I now know who was opposing me recently and have evidence." Kizashi referred to the captive bandits.

"Indeed, please if they had a bounty on their heads send our share aswell."

"Certanly, now I think I will rest, they day was very eventful."

"Then I leave you for now Hutoko-sama, my men will keep watch during the night."

After that Kakashi left the tent and made his way to the place where the other shinobi were resting. The only not asleep were Kiba and Sasuke as it was soon their watch. Hinata slept on Naruto's shoulder, while he buried his nose in her hair. Anre leaned back on a tree with Sakura sleeping on his chest. Shino was just plainly lieing on the ground.

The only thought that came to the jounins mind was "_cute_"


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14 Enter the Akatsuki.

The next day the two teams were returning to Konoha. They said their goodbyes to the merchant and his caravan, though his son glared daggers at Anre after he saw sakura sleeping on his chest at night. The rain team met them in the neutral zone, so there was no trouble.

The land around was peaceful, and without the noise of the caravan the ninjas could even hear the birds singing, there was nothing telling of the near danger, until….. two figures appeared in front of the genin. They were wearing black cloaks decorated with red clouds. Seconds later Sasuke freaked out and charged at one of the figures with the Chidori.

"DIEEEE."

But the cloaked figure suddenly grabbed Sasukes hand and made him hit the ground. Sasukes hand went into the ground up to his elbow. The cloaked figure then tried to hit Sasuke with his leg, but the boy was saved by Kakashi.

"Kakashi-sensei, who are they?" Naruto asked.

"I have a good guess." Anre pulled out both of his daggers, but before he could continiue he was attacked by a second figure, which turned out to be a tall muscely man with blue skin. He wielded a huge sword, similar by the size to that of Zabusa, but this one was covered in bandages. They engaged in a fierce fight.

"Don't worry about me, I'll be fine, try to get away from Itachi!" Anre managed to cry out before disappearing in the woods followed by his opponent.

""Did he say Itachi? As Uchiha Itachi?" Kiba asked looking at the man in front of him. Sasuke only growled looking at his brother with pure hatred.

"Hello little brother, nice to see you….. alive….for now. But you do not interest me at the moment. Hand over the blonde kid and everyone else will live." Itachi talcked calmly, but his voice was so cold it sent shivers down the spine.

"No way are you taking my Naruto-kun." Hinata was rarely mad, but now was absolutely furious, her byakugan activating by itself.

"Ahhh, a Huuga, it is long since I killed a Huuga." Itachi looked up showing everyone the sharingan. The next second he suddenly vanished.

"Huh? Where is he?" Naruto pulled out a kunai and now was turning his head. In the moment Kakashi dropped to the ground cluching his head and screaming.

"Kakashi-sensei!"

"It is genjutsu!" Sakura formed a ram seal.

"Kai" But nothing happened.

"No use, too advanced, I can't dispell it."

Then Itachi appeared behind Sasuke and the boy was instantly knocked out. The others couldn't even see where the attacks came from. Suddenly Naruto felt a presence and turned around, throwing a kick. Itachi who was about to attack jumped back.

"Imressive reflexes, but clearly not enough." He charged at Hinata, but before he could get closer his legs were bound to the ground by roots. Hinata jumped next to him, but Itachi was too fast to hit, so she started spinning.

"Kaiten." But Itachi dissapered again. When Hinata stopped spinning Itachi suddenly jumped from underground and the next second Hinata was grabbed by her throat by three of Itachis shadow clones. He himself appeared next to Naruto. Both of them immediately were surrounded by black fire. Naruto stared at the sharingan and suddenly found himself away from the battle.

Naruto looked around and realized he was a top of the Hokage's monument. He turned around and saw Hinata and itachi, Sasuke's brother was holding a dagger to her throat.

"LET HER GO!" Naruto started forming the rasengan, but nothing happened.

"Foolish brat, in this world, I am the god." Itachi slit Hinata's throat and she fell to the ground.

"NOOOOOO!" Naruto rushed to his girlfriend, but suddenly the world began to go blurry. The only thing that remained focused was Itachi, which now looked puzzled.

They both appeared in a sewer like place. Naruto was standing in front of the huge gate, while Itachi appeared behind it.

"FOOL, YOU DARE INVADE THIS MIND?" Itachi turned around and nearly fell to the ground from the shock, behind him stood a giant, nine tailed fox. One of the tailes grabbed the Uchiha and slammed him into the wall, rendering unconscious. The fox turned to the paralyzed by shock Naruto.

"Well, nice to finally meet my host, Uzumaki Naruto." The foxes expression changed from filled with fury to almost kind.

"Y-you, are….."  
"Yes, I am Kuubi, the nine tailed demon lord."

"Where am I?

"We are in your mind, inside my mental prison."

"What do you want."

"Well, I want to help."

"You? You are the demon that nearly destroyed Konoha, why would you help me?" Naruto cried out.

"I never had anything against Konoha, it is just I ripped from my world, by a group of sharingan users, the uchiha clan. I was tricked, because it wasn't mine, but the Uchihas desire to destroy Konoha. A fude from long ago still filled them with anger. Uchiha Madara still hates the first Hokage."

"Uchiha Madara?"

"Long ago he was the leader of the Uchiha clan, the clan I gave the sharingan to, the clan that later used it to destroy their own home."

"Why should I believe you?"

"We are in your mind, you can tell if I lie."

Naruto felt somehow that the fox was sincere."

"So, what now?"

"I have a proposal, from which we both will benefit."

"I am listening, furball."

"I will give you something similar to what your friend Anre has, a binding contract."

"A what???"

The giant fox rolled his eyes.

"Fine, the binding contract is in a way similar to the summoning contract, letting you summon a certain animal from the other realm. But it also gives you special abilities, sort of a bloodlimit."

"So, what will it do."

"You already possess some of the traits, you have a huge chakra pool, great stamina, healing abilities and… whisker marks. You will also get enchanted sences and ability to use chakra tails. Though you will not be able to use my chakra anymore."

"But I will be able to summon you."

"Yes, me and my kin."

"Ok, but how do you benefit from it?"

"Ahh, that is the best part, you see to summon something it should first be in another realm. So once you sighn the contract I get transported home."

"I see, you miss your home."

The giant fox lowered his head. "We Demon foxes live for thousands of years, but 13 years is a noticible time for us aswell."

"I see." Naruto felt sorry for the giant. "I agree, give me the contract."

Kuubi grined and waved his tail. A huge scroll appeared and landed next to Naruto.

"Here, sighn it with your blood. And if you want you can keep it as your family treasure, sort of a bloodlimit."

"But how do I let others sighn it?"

"Just summon me, or anyone from my kin."

"Naruto nodded and bit his thumb."

In the real world only several minutes passed. Shino, Kiba and Sakura couldn't do anything. Should they help Hinata, Naruto would die, help Naruto, Hinata would die. They didn't even see what was happening behind the black flames. Suddenly the flames died and the clones were dispelled. Everyone saw Naruto and itachi still staring at each other, but then Itachis head shot back like from a punch, blood coming from his nose. Then Naruto hit him in the chest sending Itachi flying several meters away. Suddenly there was a scream followed by an explosion:

"SHOCKING FIST!"

Trees and pieces of trees or debris could be seen sent into the air by destructive force. The next moment Itachi's comrade flew out of the forest breaking through several trees on the way and skitting on the road. Finally he stopped next to Itachi, his sword broken and his hand bleeding, his Akatsuki cloak was all torn and his hair was a mess, not to mention his forehead protector was missing. Kakashi also now stood up after being released from the genjutsu.

Naruto dashed to Hinata.

"Hinata! Are you allright?"

"Yes, I am fine." Naruto hugged the girl and after that faced the attackers again.

"You will pay for what you have done, YOU WILL PAY!" Naruto instinctively started forming fox features out of chakra. Anre suddenly landed next to him looking at his enemyes with strange purple eyes.

Soon Itachi and his partner were facing two strange figures radiating power. Both with chackra claws, one had bat like wing and spiked tail, another had fox ears and two chakra tails behind him. Anre was laso holding the 'grass cutter'.

"Get up Kisame." Itachi helped his partener stand up. "We have to leave, now!"

"Huh? What happened? Ugggh, my arm!" Kisame yelled. Itachi pulled him up and then he turned to Naruto and Anre. "We will meet again, I promise." After that they both disappeared.

After Itachi and Kisame fled the animalistic features faded from Naruto and Anre. Naruto dropped on all fours and greedily breather in oxygen. Anre fell on his back. Only now others noticed his clothes ripped in several places and blood coming out of the holes. Hinata ran over to Naruto, while Sakura checked on Anre.

"Are you alright?" they asked in unison.

Naruto nodded, but Anre scowled getting up "I think I have a couple of broken ribs, nothing too serious. That blue freak hits like a bull and his blasted sword eats chachra, it ate almost all the chackra out of my tecknique and I only got close to him because he underestimated me. God, I need a vacation." Anre dropped his head on Sakura's lap. "Where do these guys come from?"

Sakura and Shino then helped Anre stand up, Shino offering his shoulder for support, while Kiba and Hinata helped Naruto. Kakashi picked up Sasuke who was still out cold.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15 New powers.

Tsunade's head was about to explode, from the amount of information she received, including the fact that the Kuubi was no longer sealed in Naruto. Other genin were shocked when Naruto explained that the demon fox was sealed in him. Though his friends were understanding about it. Now they knew why the villagers hated him and were outraged by that.

Now Tsunade was forced to think what to do, the worst thing, was that even Sarutobi couldn't advise anything, and most likely she would be forced to report to the council.

The council was shocked to say the least after Tsunade told them about Naruto.

"This is outrageous, I told you that the demon had to be killed when we had a chance and now we can only wait until it returns to finish us." Homura yelled.

"I find your reaction strange, the Kuubi has returned to his realm and the only way for him to come back is for Uzumaki to summon him, yet he will be forced to serve as a typical summon." Said Hiashi Huuga.

"Then I have another suggestion." A council member named Danzo stood up. "Why not make him give us the contract, with it we can make a great army of powerful shinobi."

Tsunade shook her head. "Anre, who hold the similar binding contract explained how it works. The thing is that only the one who has already sighned the contract can allow another do the same, in a way it is similar to the bloodlimit, as only the members of the family usually get granted the right to sign it. Naruto will not give this right just because we ask, nor we will be able to force him. The main problem is that he actually has no reason to be even loyal to Konaha, yet he is."

"What do you mean Hokage-sama."

"I mean that from day one he was mistreated by this village."

"What did you expect, he is a demon and as far as I am concerned, he still is." Homura stated. "We should kill him, or atleast banish him."

"Homura-sama, do you realize that by Konoha laws you have just commited a crime, wishing a Konoha shinobi dead is usually severly punished." Sarutobi spoke up.

"That does ot concerne demons."

"He is not a demon and never was!" Tsunade was already were angry.

"Tsunade-sama, what do you suggest?" another council member asked.

"I suggest revial his heritage, let him recreate his clan. He afterall is the son of the fourth, the last Namikaze."

"perhaps, but not now, he is too young, and he needs to learn how to properly use his powers." Hiashi spoke again.

"Agreed, I think Anre can help him with that. As for his heritage, lets wait until he turns 18."

"Then it is decided."

"There is another thing that I wanted talk to the council about."

"We are listening Tsunade-sama."

"Long ago I addressed the council with the same problem. I want to train medical nins, the recent events only prove that the lack of a medical specialist on the battlefield is unacceptable."

"The council went silent for a moment. "What do you suggest Hokage-sama?" another council member asked.

"I suggest me picking a student from every genin team to train as an experiment, most likely I will pick kunoichi because they usually have better chakra control."

The council debated for a while until they came to an agreement.

"The council finds your offer acceptable Tsunade-sama."

For the first time inside of the council chambers Tsunade smiled, for the first time she was heard.

Naruto and Anre were at the training field. Anre was explaining the details about the binding contract.

"So, to summon I can use the hands seals?"

"Yes, or a tattoo like mine." Anre showed the tattoo on his left, scrarred hand.

"Cool, can you make one?"

"Perhaps, but there is one problem, you see, to create the summoning tattoo you need the correct symbol to do it, like mine here." Naruto looked at the place on the tatoo Anre was pointing at and saw a symbol that looked like an eye with flames for a pupil.

"This symbol is called the dragon eye, it suits me for obvious reasons, it represents dragons."

"So I need a symbol to represent foxes?"

"Yes, this symbols come from the same source as my symbols I use in my scrolls. They are used to mold chakra in a specific way. This knowledge is actually very rare so I will find the symbol for you, but the art of these symbols will stay with me."

"No problem."

"Good, now lets try for you to use your new powers, the last time in the battle you did that on pure instinct and nearly collapsed after maintaining the form for a couple of minutes."

"So what do I do?"

"Train, like anything else it takes time to master, but the result will be….. rewarding."

Naruto scrached his head.

"Umm, Kuubi said also about enchanted sences."

"Perhaps, I don't know the specifics of you binding contract, perhaps it is similar to my eyes."

"Your eyes?"

Anre smiled and suddenly his eyes began to glow purple, the pupils disappeared and he looked rather creepy, until he returned to normal.

"Whoah, what do they do?"

"Well the dragons are known as the keepers of time, so they have given me their ability to control time, to a limited degree ofcource. When using my eyes I can slow time around me or even stop for a short time. Though stopping it is very draining, I can stop the time for about 4 seconds until collapsing, if I try to do that any longer I will die, simple as that."

"So, I my case I get foxes sences?"

"I don't know, perhaps. As I said, the trick behind the binding contract is that you get some features and powers of the animal you sighned the contract with."

"Cool, so what do we begin with."

"Well I did see your fox form and I can say that it is incomplete and unstable, so we will train you to use it, as for your sences, it is up to you, perhaps Hinata will be able to help, because after sighning the binding contract our chakra system can change to adjust to our new abilities."

"So what do we do first." Naruto as usually was over exited to learn something new.

"Remember you had chakra claws? Well, try to create them, gather chakra and concentrate of forming claws."

Naruto nodded and tried that, to his surprise the claws did form, but maintaining them need more chakra, so it was rather hard.

"Good, now his that tree." Anre pointed at a tree not too far from them." Naruto did that and five deed cuts appeared on the trunk, but they were uneven and after the hit one of the claws dissapered while Naruto struggled to maintain them.

"Damn, this is hard."

"Yes it is rather difficult, but constant usage of them boost your chakra control, train with them and limit yourself only to claws, no tail and other stuff."

Naruto nodded and tried to use the claws again.

"Well, I hope you will master them and other parts of your fox form in two months."

"Huh? Why?"

"The chunin exams, they will start in two months."

Ino, Tenten, Haku, Hinata and Sakura were set up for their own surprise as they were called to Hokages office by Kakashi. When they got there they were taken to a very pissed Tsunade.

"Where the hell were you? I called for you hours ago?"

The girls were petrified, until Sakura found courage to answer.

"We were told only fifteen minutes ago by Kakashi-sensei."

Tsunada slammed her head on the table nearly shattering it.

"Shizune, why of all people you asked him to round them up."

Tsunades assistant took a couple steppes backward, just in case.

"Sorry Tsunade-sama, I sort of bumped into him."

Tsunade sighed.

"Ok, now to you girls, I am pleased to inform you that you three will go through special experimental training."

"Ummm what kind of training?" Hinata asked.

"You will train with Shizune to become medical ninjas."

Author Note: Chunin exams in the sand village will begin in the next chapter.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16 To the sand village.

"Tsunade-same, here are the teams nominated for the oncoming chunin exams." Shizune handed her master several slits of paper. Tsunade looked through them.

"As expected, the rookie nine, team Gai and the sand siblings, we have quite a number of teams nominated."

"Tsunade-sama, I know Kurenai sent the letter telling she nominated her team, but the rules state that any genin team going outside the village must have a jounin leader with them."

"Hmmm, I guess we can put Anre in charge of them, afterall he has been leading them on most of the missions while Kurenai was away, he knows how to work with them."

"Tsunade-sama, are you sure? Not that I am unconfident in his abilities, it is just that during the sand/sound invasion he…. How do I put it… made a reputation."

Tsunade thought for a moment, Shizune had a point, because during the invasion Anre was merciless to the enemy shinobi, no prisoners, not to mention he killed in cold blood, brutally. But fortunately the sand shinobi were smart enough to leave, so only the sound shinobi got killed by him.

"Hmmm, I think taking him will even be benefitial Shizune and might cool some of the hotheads there."

"Ofcource Tsunade-sama, but what will he do once we get there, team 8 will go under Kurenai."

"I will place him as one of my escorts, even hokage needs protection."

"I will send message to him immediately, there is also a problem with team 10, because Shikamaru is a chunin."

"I think Haku can fill in his position, inform her aswell. Shikamaru stays at the village."

"Certanly Tsunade-sama."

Tsunade nodded and started on the paperwork, the part of being hokage she loathed.

The large group assembled at the gates, five genin teams with their jounin leaders were waiting for the hokage and her escorts. The genin were mostly very exited because of the upcoming genin exams.

"You'll see we will become chunin for sure." Kiba was always confident.

"Hate to say it, but not all of you." Anre remarked. He also changed a little over the time, became somewhat taller, however all have, and there were several changes in his clothes. Now apart from a sword, he had two demon shurikens strapped over his back. The glove on his left hand was now fingerless, but had metal plating, and his shoulder pad now had small metal spikes on it. The metal plating was also added to his boots.

Though Anre wasn't the only one to change the look. Kiba now wore an outfit similar to a standard chunin uniform, only grey and black. Temari now wore a new black battle kimono and Sakura now had her hair tied in a ponytail, though when not on a mission she always let it loose.

"What do you mean not all of us?" kiba demanded.

"Pure mathematics, no more than 10 people are allowed to make it to the finals and there are 15 genin here, not to mention the competition from other villagers."

Kiba growled, but had to agree.

Soon Tsunade came with two AMBU members behing her.

"Everyone here? Good, lets head out." And with out stopping the hokage walked through the gates.

The trip through the fire country was fairly uneventful, finally the group made camp on the border, before setting into the desert. The night was calm, though Naruto grumbled, because Tsunade has placed him on the night shift guard duty for calling her old again. The next morning the set into the desert.

"So, Kakashi-sensei, what is Suna like?" Naruto asked while yawning.

"Suna?" Kakashi looked up from his book.

"Yeah, for once I agree with Naruto, that is an interesting question." Sasuke said.

"Well, I won't say I've been there a lot, it might have changed."

"C'mon sensei, tell us."

"You'll see soon enough, just keep in mind, it is not Konoha."

The trip through the desert was rather tireing, as most of the group weren't used to the heat.

"Will someone please turn off the sun, sometimes I am jealous of Shino and his shades!" Kiba was sweating and Akamaru for once wasn't so happy looking.

"Be careful what you ask for Kiba." Anre mentioned.

"Yeah, why?"

"At night there can be a minus temperature in the desert."

"Oh great, if the heat wasn't enough."

"Anre-kun, why aren't you hot, you are wearing all black afterall." Hinata whipped the sweat off her forehead.

"My clothes are made of the special material that prevents heat exchange with air, it adjusts to the temperature of my body."

"Where can I get one of those?" Kiba asked looking jealously at Anre.

"No clothes shop will sell you anything like this. You have to order it from the specialized equipment store back in Konoha."

"Ohhh, how come we never heard of it?"

"Just think, have you seen many chunin or jounin wearing civilian clothes?"

Kiba, Hinata and Shino thought for a moment but had to admit most of the high ranking shinobi were wearing specialized shinobi clothes.

""That still doesn't explain why we never heard of it."

"Well, actually the owners usually invite the interested customer, genin don't usually have enough money, I ordered mine after I was promoted to a jounin, actually the only genin around with clothes made of the similar material here is Lee."

"What, you mean those green freaking tights are made of the same material?"

"Not exactly, but it's functions are similar, so Gai actually gave his student a very useful gift, though the desine, umm…….. well, I don't like the desine."

Others nodded throwing a glance at Lee.

"I see, but when we get back can you show us the shop?" Kiba asked.

"I think I could, but I warn you about the prices, they bite, my gear have cost me almost 10000."

Anre walked ahead while others were picking their jaws from the ground.

It was already dark when a line of mountains appeared on the horizon.

"Oh great, now the mountains, like the desert was good to us!" Naruto lowered his head

"Those are not mountains Naruto." Kakashi never raised his head from his book.

"Then what?"

"That is the village hidden in the sand."

Two hours later the group arrived at narrow passage that was the only way inside the village. They were immediately surrounded by a large group of sand shinobi.

"Who are you and what do you want in Suna?" asked one of the sand ninjas.

"We are here to participate in the chunin exams and I am here on the invitation from the Kazekage." Tsunade answered coming up front."

"Very well, you may pass, at the end of the pass you will be greated and helped with registration." The sand ninjas stepped aside allowing the visitors to pass. At the end of the pass they were indeed greated.

"Kurenai-sensei!" Hinata rushed to her teacher followed by Shino and kiba.

"Good to see you three" Kurenai was really happy to see her team. Then she saw Anre.

"Thanks for keeping an eye on them."

"Aaaaaw, Kurenai-sensei, we are not kids you know." Kiba looked up at his sensei.

"Hate to admit it Kurenai-sama, but Kiba is right, they are more then able to look after themselves. I enjoyed working with them, but leading a team is something that wasn't easy for me, so they are all yours."

Anre waved his hand and went over to team seven, which was getting their papers done by two young sand shinobi. After the boring process was over they were offered to be led to a hotel, which turned out to be a rather big building several stories high. Checking in also wasn't a big problem. After that the genin were given time to walk around the village. Naruto grabbed Hinata and they went to find a local ramen stand, Shino went to look for some desert bugs, some boys went to the hot springs, while Lee and Gai decided to work hard and make a hundred laps around Suna to boost their flames of youth. The sand siblings went to their old training grounds, coming back to Suna brought back and Sakura decided to go sight seeing. The only difference from spending time in Konoha was that noone kept their weapons and ninja gear at the hotel, just in case.

"So, where do you want to go?" Anre asked Sakura while there were walking down the street.

"I don't know, anywhere is fine by me." Sakura snuggled closer to Anre.

"How about the market place, maybe you will something you like."

"Sure, but if I see something I like, I'll pay myself."

"Then don't look at diamonds and stuff like that." Anre laughed, he liked Sakura acting independent.

"Very funny, Anre ."

"What is?"

"Don't play dumb."

"Dumb? Me? Never." Anre laughed again, soon joined by Sakura.

"So,so. Konoha genin, not a concern in the world, pathetick."

Sakura and Anre turned around to the voice and saw three sand shinobi. One girl and two boys, all wearing similar gray and brown clothes, headbands wrapped around their arms near the shoulder.

"And you are?"

"We are your worst nightmare."

"If you are a nightmare then go away I don't care about illusions." Anre waved his hand. "lets go." He and Sakura turned around and started walking away.

"What! How dare you and your bitch turn your backs on us?!" one of the boys yelled, but was forced to shut up when a shinobi in black in front of him dissapeated and the next second he felt a presence behind him.

"Now who's turning his back?" Anre's voice was still calm, but it was icy cold and made even Sakura feel uneasy. "Apologise to her."

"Or you do what?"

The next moment the boy was thrown into the wall and pinned to it as his head was stuck between the teeth of the demon shuriken. Anre began walking toward the immobilized opponent when a man in a grey chunin type vest jumped in front of Anre.

"Excuse my students, I assure you they will be punished."

"He has to apologise." Anre pointed at a sand ninja struggeling to get free.

"Shitoko, apologise." The man ordered.

"But Takutshi-sensei." The girl tried to protest, but went silent when met a glare from her teacher.

"Fine, I am sorry." The boy named Shitoko said. Anre seemed satisfied and without any effort pulled out his shuriken, packed it and placed on his back.

"Lets go Sakura." Anre and Sakura went away leaving the four sand ninjas.

"what were you three doing? Trying to commit a suicide?"

"But sensei, they are just Konoha shinobi." Shitoko rubbed his neck after being released.

"You haven't got the slightest idea who that was."

"Two Konoha genin." The girl mentioned.

"The boy in black is a jounin, Maura, I remember him from our failed invasion."

"A joinin? How?"

"Don't know how, but from what I have seen he is not to be messed with, I know that even I am no match for him." The sand joinin went silent remembering the battle in Konoha, his student looking partly shocked, partly skeptical.

"You mean he is that strong?" Skitoko asked

"He ripped his way through the sound ninjas practically tearing them apart. Good thing Baki advised us to step away. Then that kid attaked the giant snakes that were supposed to help us. One got beheaded by his jutsu."

Now the sand genin were ready to throw up.

"If I catch you again trying to pick a fight, I will send you back to the academy, now lets go, you are already late for training, and this just as the chunin exams are about to start."


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17 The chunin exams…again

"So, this is the sand ninja academy, impressive." Neji said as the rest of the group assembled in front of a huge building, resembling more a fortress than any kind of school.

"I'd say depressing." Ino mentioned.

"Ok, now that everyone here, get inside and make Konoha proud." Tsunade said in front of the genin and their jounin senseis.

After that and wishes of luck everyone went inside, where in the main hall several teams from other villages have already gathered.

"So, this is our competition this time." Naruto looked around and saw several teams from the rock and rain, one from the cloud, not too far from Hinata's team.

"Looks like it, but don't forget, our teammates are our opponents aswell."

Sasuke nodded. "I agree with Sakura, we must be ready to fight our own comrades.|

Soon the talking stopped as a man came in wearing a chain around his chest. He also had a vicious looking axe strapped to his back.

'Ok! Shut up you all, time to begin." The last words were almost hissed, while the man was smiling, though his smile was unpleasant to say the least.

"Man, he can easily rival Ibiki back in Konoha." Naruto whispered to his teammates, who only nodded in agreement.

"Now, I will call out a team, you enter the door behind me, any questions?" There weren't any. "Good, now, the first is team 12, the village hidden in the rain." The named team slowly walked to the doors and entered. 10 minutes later another team was called. The worst part about it all, was that people walked in, but nobody came out. Finally it was team 7's turn, oh other teams from Konaha, only team Gai have already gone inside.

When Sakura, Naruto and Sasuke entered the room, they noticed a woman in front of them. She had glasses on, that made her look a little like a bug. Her green hair was pulled back in a long pony tail. The weirdest part, was that she was wearing a lab coat and the room looked more like a hospital.

"Greeting, I will be your proctor for this exam. My name is of no importance."

"Umm, if I may ask, what is the nature of this exam." Sakura asked.

"Glad you asked." She smiled with a nasty smile. "This exam will test if your body and chakra system are developed enough to be atleast chunin level."

"How are you going to test that?" Naruto took a step back from the scary lady, a fact that he didn't like doctors only added to fact that he didn't like the woman.

"Oh, nothing much, I will give one of you a shot, and if you are strong enough, nothing will happen." she showed a syringe filled with a white liquid.

"NEEDLE!" Naruto jumped to the wall and covered his rear, causing everyone to sweatdrop.

"Naruto?" Sakura looked at Naruto with question in her eyes.

"I don't like shots."

"you are kidding?" Sasuke was struggeling not to laugh.

"Ahem" the woman in a lab coat caught their attention again. "You ready? Who will it be?"

"What will happen if the person taking a shot isn't strong enough?" Sasuke looked at the syringe.

"Nothing much, just his chackra system will be damaged beyond repair."

"What!" all three cried out.

"There is no way I am taking that shot, or letting any of you two do it." Naruto stepped out front.

"Yeah, I won't let you put my teammates to risk." Sakura joined Naruto followed by Sasuke who nodded agreeing.

The woman in a lab coat raised her head.

"You do realize this mean that you fail the exam?" she said.

"Yeah, we do."

"Fine, then I don't seem to have any other choice, you three…..pass."

"Huh?" the three genin looked at each other.

"Well, congratulations, you are the first team today to pass."

"how did we pass?" Sakura looked puzzled.

"Simple, a team should never sacrifice one of the teammates, no matter what the goal of the mission is, that is what this test was about."

Sasuke slapped his face: "Team unity, the first test, just like back then." His teammates realized that he was right, back in Konoha they were tested on the same thing.

"Hey, you mean we are the only ones that passed by now?" Naruto cried and the woman nodded.

"Even Lee's team failed?"

"You mean the first team from your village? Yes, they failed, an idiot wearing green tights volunteered to take the shot not even giving his teammates a chance to speak, screamed something about his unbeatable flames of youth, cried a name of his sensei or something, grabbed the cyringe and gave himself a full dose."

Sakura gasped. "Is he alright?"

"Ofcource, this is just a sleeping drug mixed with salt."

"Ouch, that has got to hurt." Naruto suddenly felt an ich at his backside.

'Not as bad as what Neji and Tenten will do to him when he wakes up." Sasuke smirked.

"Ok, now that you have passed, step through the door on the left." The woman pointed to the door.

When they did they ended up in another room, only this one looked comfortable, sofas, drinks, magazines, everything to spend the time.

"So, I guess we wait." Sasuke went to one of the sofas and took a soda. He was soon joined by his teammates. The waiting was wors then the test. Soon though they weren't the only ones inside as a team from the cloud came in and took seats in another side of the room. In the next two hours the room got partly filled as another 4 teams came in, Naruto was delighted to see Hinata and hers.

"So, you guys made also." Naruto smiled. Hinata immidiateky sat next to him.

"Yeah, we did, though I nearly killed Shino."

"How come?"

"He suggested Akamaru take the stupid shot." The puppy barked at the bug user.

"I only suggested." Shrugged an always emotionless Shino.

Soon their talk stopped though as a man with an axe from earlier entered.

"Fine, I see this is all for this time. Follow me."

The sand ninja led the six teams outside where they saw others who failed on the other side of the fence, that was separating the yard and the street. Their senseis were also there.

"You have ten minutes to talk, after that the second exam will begin." The ninja with an axe stepped back. The genin rushed to the fence.

"Well congratulations guys." Kakashi and Kurenai said to their teams.

"Kakashi-sensei, where is Anre?" Sakura asked.

"Hokage-sama has a meeting with the Kazekage and Anre is one of the escorts, I'll tell him you passed the first test." Kakashi gave her his eye smile.

"How did you fail?" Sasuke asked team 10, or rather Ino and Haku, as Chouji was sleeping near the fence.

"I'll tell you." Asuma stepped forward, lighting a cigarette. "They debated who should take the shot until Chouji agreed, Ino was happy it wasn't her and Haku had no time to object, though she guessed it wasn't the real shot." Ino rubbed her head in embaresement, while Haku only threw an accusing glanse at her.

"Hey, Neji, where is your team?" Kiba noticed that the Huuga jenius was the only member of his team present. Neji only smirked. Soon Kiba's question was answered though as everyone saw Gai running away from furious Tenten carrying sleeping Lee, who most likely was her target. Gai was dodging numerous weapons she was throwing at them.

"Tenten, calm down your flames of youth, please!"

"If I hear another thing about flames of youth I am gonna chop you and Lee to extra small pieces when he wakes up!" Tenten hurled a huge mace at her sensei.

"Tenten, please calm down!" Gai started to run even faster when he saw fire appear in Tenten's eyes and when she summoned a huge halberd which she was now wawing around while chasing Gai down the street.

"If I catch you, I am going to shave your eyebrows off!" Tenten yelled running after her sensei.

The people around sweat dropped.

"Oh, boy, Lee is so dead." Naruto rubbed his head.

Next he saw a very depressed Kankoruo and Temari hiding behind their sensei Baki from Gaara who was still rubbing his backside.

"And what happened to you guys?" Naruto asked.

"It seems Kankoruo and Temari convinced Gaara to take a shot." Kakashi mentioned.

Gaaras brother and sister only nodded, trying to get farther from Gaara.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to kill you……." Gaara said calmly. His brother and sister sighed in relief "……….yet."

"Fine, the talk is over, those who got through get over here!"

Every team was surrounded by four sand shinobi which made a long serie of hand sighns. Then all of them disappeared in a swirl of sand. When the members of team 7 could see again, they noticed that they were no longer in the village. They now were in a huge valley surrounded by mountains. The valley was almost completely made of sand and rock, nothing green for miles. It seemed that they were on one side of it, the other was too far to see. In front of them instead of them instead of four sand shinobi, was one.

"Welcome to the valley of despair, here you will take your second stage of the exam."

"And what should we do?" Sasuke asked.

"Your mission is to get to the other side of the valley in 2 days time. If you meet another team, fighting is obligatory."

After that the sand ninja disappeared."

"Fine, lets get going, the sooner we set off, the sooner we end this."

Team seven started moving through the dried uo valley.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18 Nothing is simple once more.

At the other part of the valley a team from the cloud was quikly making their way, but not towards the other side. Few minutes later a falcon landed on a stretched hand of one of the nins.

"Did you find her?" one of the nins asked the bird. The trained bird made a sound witch must have meant "Yes"

"Show the way."

The falcon stretched his wings and began flying forward at the speed his masters could follow.

"How much to the target?" the leader of the team asked.

"Judging the time it took Ferrir to find her, she and her team are no ore than 2 hours away."

"Good, finally the cloud will get the secrets of the byakugan."

The cloud ninjas sped up following the falcon, until the bird was suddenly stopped in mid air and the fell to the ground.

"What the……!?" The cloud ninjas spred hiding behind the many boulders that the valley was full of.

"Where are the attakers?" one of the nins whispered to his partner who was behind a boulder holding a kunai. He only shrugged his shoulders. Suddenly two demon shuriken flew from the other side of the rock with metal wire attached to them, pinning the cloud ninja to the rock. The next second an electrical pulse went through the wire killing the poor guy, painfully. One of his teammates rushed to his now burned to a crisp teammate who was still pinned to the rock, but only made several steppes as something blurred behind him and the cloud ninja dropped with his neck sliced open. The leader of the group heard that his teammates were done for and made a run for it. He noticed several kunai thrown at him from what it seemed out of nowhere, which he managed to dodge only to receive a solid hit in his gut throwing him against yet another boulder. The last thing his saw was a blurry siluette coming right at him, it could barely be seen as it copied the colors behind it, becoming nearly invisible. Then the siluette made a quik move and everything went black.

The siluette looked around and released the jutsu. Colors slowly returned after the chameleon jutsu was lifted, well mostly only one color as the ninja wore all black. Anre, it was him, pulled out the metal ninja wire and tied up the knocked out cloud shinobi. He then quikly picked up his demon shuriken and returned to the tied up body. He pulled out a syringe and gave a prone cloud ninja a shot, then placed the body over his shoulder and ran off.

It didn't take him much time to get the point where he was met by four sand shinobi.

"There were no problems?" one of them asked and stated at the same time.

Anre only shook his head. Then the sand shinobi transported Anre back to the village via the same jutsu they used to transport genin teams to the valley. Anre and one of the sand shinobi ended up atop of the kazekage tower and soon entered it. The went directly to the kazekages office where they were already waited by kazekage surrounded by several of sand ANBU and tsunade and her two jounin guard.

"So it is confirmed." Kazekage said.

"Yes, I observed their actions, their intentions were clearly to attack team 8 of Konoha, or more specifically Huuga Hinata." Anre handed the body to two sand ANBU.

Tsunade nodded: "Good, the prisoner wil be interrogated providing solid proof, Anre, you are free to go." When the masked jounin left Tsunade turned to the kazekage: "Thank you for your help kazekage-sama."

"We are allies, aren't we? Glad to help hokage-sama, will you stay till the rest of the exam?"

"Yes, I actually came so early because of the info on cloud chunin posing as genin team would infiltrate the exam. As for the rest of the exam I think our genin will perform well."

"Yes, how did you get information about cloud activities."

"Jiraiya has a great spy network, but the details should remain a secret, for security's sake. I also didn't tell anyone that I took Anre with us only for this mission. The less people knew the better."

"Ofcource, would you like a drink hokage-sama? " kazekage pulled out a bottle of sake. He didn't have to ask ofcource if Tsunade wanted a drink.

In the mean time the genin teams were having trouble of their own. The valley turned out to be not only a dull and ugly place, but also were dangerous. There were many traps for starters, which in most cases were lethal if sprung. Team seven also got attacked by a giant scorpion which only stopped when Sasuke drove the chidori through the beasts head. Team 8 was attacked by a swarn of insect and if it wasn't for shino the would have been in trouble. The first day ended with both teams getting just over a half of the way behind them.

Only by luck they got to the end of the valley by the end of the second day. In the end in addition to normal traps they had to look out for quicksand as Naruto nearly drowned. When they got to the other side of the valley they were met by several sand shinobi which transported them back to the village. Only three teams made it to the end. Team 7, team 8 and a team from Sand, one of the members of wich was sent to the hospital due to severe injuries he sustained when she sprung one of the traps. The remaining genin were brought before kazekage and the hokage in the main hall of the kazekage tower. Sakura saw Anre behind Tsunade, though she couldn't see his eyes as they were shadowed by the hood, though she caught a slight nod pointed at her.

Kazekage caughed getting everyone's attention: "First of all congratulations finalists, you made it past the second stage of the chunin exams. Now, in months time, you will fight individual battles representing your village and yourselves at the arena. Only one thing is left for us to do before you go on your well deserved rest. We have to see who you will be fighting." Kazekage waived his hand and one of the sand shinobi in the room went to the genin letting them pick their numbers from the box.

"Now, tell me the numbers." Kazekae said.

Sasuke got 2, Naruto 5, Sakura 1, Gosso Baruki, one of the sand genin got 3, as his comrade Fuari Soakichi got 7, Kiba got 6, Hinata 8 and Shino got 4. So the match ups were:

1. Sakura Haruno vs. Uchiha Sasuke

2. Gosso Baruki vs. Aburame Shino

3. Uzumaki Naruto vs. Inuzuka Kiba

4. Soakichi Fuari vs. Huuga Hinata.

The reactions were different. Sasuke smiled confidentally, while Sakura was sad being sure she didn't stand a chance. Naruto was just happy he didn't have to fight Hinata in the first round, while Kiba was making plans on how to beat Naruto.

When the matchups were done the genin were led back to the hotel to rest and clean up.

"Anre" the boy turned around to see kakashi approaching. Tsunade looked at Kakashi and then nodded giving him permission to tke one of her guards away.

"Yes Kakashi, what do you want?"

"I want to ask you to train Sakura."

"Me?'

"Yes, you have good influence on her and don't you think it will be strange for me to train two opponents."

"Anre had to agree to this."

"Ok, I'll do it for her, but you will have to talk to hokage-sama, because I will certainly not be able to train Sakura and furfill my guard duty." Kakashi agreed to this, though he knew talking to Tsunade would be unpleasant.

The next day Sakura woke up from the knock on her door. She sleepily stood up and made her way to the door yawning. The previous evening she only had enough strenght left to take a shower and take of her dress before falling asleep. Now she was opening the door while buttoning her dress. When she opened the door she saw Anre smileing at her.

"Good morning finalist!" he smiled. "I brought breakfast." He showed the bag in his hand.

"Get in here." Sakura pulled Anre inside and kissed him. When they broke she asked what he brought. Anre pulled out several wrapped up sandwiches and a thermos of hot tea.

"Great, I am starving." Sakura really unwrapped one of the sandwiches and took a big bite.

Anre wasn't surprised, because the valley of despair clearly had little to eat in it, though he didn't mention he was there.

"Well, while you eat I have news."

"I am all ears. Sakura took a sip straight from the thermos.

"You know the food isn't going anywhere."

"Sorry, I am just really hungry."

"So I've noticed, now back to the news, I am your trainer for the finals."

Sakura suddenly stooped eating and the jumped at Anre.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you."

"Sakura get off me, you are suffocating me."

Sakura let Anre go giving him a chance to breath. "Maybe you should just hug Sasuke till he drops?"

Sakura and Anre both laughed.

"Anre, do you think I have a chance to beat Sasuke?"

"I spent all night thinking up a plan, and now I think, yes you can, but we have some work to do."

"But Anre with the sharingan all my genjutsus are useless."

"Indeed they are, but that is why you are going to beat him in his own game, but for that we will need to boost your chakra control."

"I though I had good chakra control."

"Yes, but for what I am planning it is not enough, I am going to help you raise your control to almost my own level, though with the fact that you have less chakra it will be easyer."

Sakura gasped but nodded, she learned to trust Anre in almost everything, because in most cases he was right.

After finishing breakfast Anre led Sakura to one of the local training fields. He then disappeared and reappeared with a huge box.

"Ok, I will explain the exercise." Anre opened the box to reveal that it was full of …..… …. eggs. He then pulled out a senbon needle.

"Ok, the concept is simple, charge the needle with chakra and pierce the egg with it."

Sakura saw the needle in Anre's hand starting to glow faint blue. He then slowly pierced the egg leaving an accurate hole as he pulled the needle out. After that he dropped the egg.

"Here, try it….." he handed her the needle "…… and the towels are also in the box."

"What will I need towels for?"

"You'll see." Anre went to one of the training posts and as usually pulled out a scroll.

Sakura shrugged her shoulders and charged the needle with chakra. She aimed the needle at the egg and tried to pierce it. To her surprise, when the needle pierced the shell the egg exploded showering Sakura in it.

"EWWWW!"

"Not so easy, is it?" she heard from behind and saw Anre smiling while he was working on his scroll. "As I said, the towels are in the box."

Sakura sighed and went to the box to get another egg and a towel to clean atleast her face.

Several hours later she was all covered in eggs, but managed to ge atleast a tip of the needle inside of the egg without making it explode and the explosions weren't so violent now.

"Anre! There are no more eggs." Anre rolled up his scroll.

"Good, now lets get back to the hotel and get you cleaned up, because we are not finished for today."

"Huh? What else will we do?"

"We will go…. Shopping."


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19 The finals.

The day of the finals finally came. The people, civilians and shinobi alike gathered at the arena, similar to the one back in Konoha. Anly this one had boulders and smaller rock showered all over it creating a terrain a lot less comfortable, but providing more cover. All the genin exept the first ones to fight were in the balcony. The kages were at their lounge, while other ninjas and genin took places with the rest of the audience. Anre got next to Kakashi.

"So, what did you teach Sasuke?" Anre asked.

"Well, since Sakura's main weapon is genjutsu I taught him how to use his sharingan to dispel different kinds.

"I see."

It didn't escape Kakashi that Anre smiled after that. But soon their attention was pointed to the arena as the doors opened letting the first combatants step out.

"Is that Sakura?" Kakashi asked, because Sakura changed her look almost completely.

She now wore long, black, up to knee kunoichi sandals. Her red dress was replaced with a dark grey battle kimono. She had black gloves on her hands with metal plating. Her hair was tied in a pony tail and her forehead protector was on her forehead. Shuriken and kunai holsters were strapped to her thighs.

The rest of the Konoha shinobi were also rather surprised and Ino took opportunity to criticize Sakura's new look. Sasuke raised his eyebrow, but his confident smile remained.

"So, changed the look, good for you."

"Thanks, but that is not the only thing that changed." Sakura replied with a fake smile.

The proctor looked at the genin: "Begin" he yelled jumping back.

Sasuke immediately charged at Sakura, who herself charged at him.

"What is she doing? She is no match to Sasuke in taijutsu." Kakashi was really surprised, he was even more when as the two were about to collide Sakura disappeared in a puff of smoke and reappeared several meters away. Sasuke cried out in pain, as instead of Sakura his fist hit a rock she used for a replacement.

"Huh, a substitution, with no seals? How?" Kakashi raised his forehead protector and activated his sharingan to get a better look.

Anre laughed: "Simple, but I won't tell."

Back at the arena Sasuke was trying to hit Sakura with fireballs, but she kept popping up around the arena.

"Stop doing that and fight me!" Sasuke was getting really annoyed and decided to activate his sharingan.

Sakura saw the sharingan eyes and pulled out several kunai which she threw at Sasuke. He smirked and dodged, but suddenly instead of one of the kunai that was flying by, appeared Sakura which deliver a spin kick to Sasuke's face breaking the boy's nose. As he was about to attack her she puffed away again and appeared on the other side of the arena.

Sasuke whipped the blood from his nose and pulled out his own demon shuriken.

"Lets see you dodge this." He mumbled pulling his hand back, but Sakura in front puffed away again and Sasuke felt his shuriken become heavier. When he turned he saw that he was holding Sakura who grabbed his hand. Her own hands began to glow and the next second Sasuke dropped Sakura, who now grabbed his leg and the rolled away until she jumped up breathing heavily. Sasuke dropped to his knees. He couldn't move his leg or arm and they hurt like hell.

"What did you do?"

"I am training to be a medic Sasuke, chakra scalpel is one of the basic jutsus we use. Anre had me study on weak spots in human limbs. So it only took me a brief moment to cut major ligiments and musceles. All can be easily healed, but until then you are unable to move or form hand seals."

Sasuke lowered his head, as he had to admit that he was totally beaten by Sakura, who used only the basic jutsus. "Alright. Proctor, I concede!"

The referee nodded: "The winner Haruno Sakura!" Sakura left the arena with a shocked yet happy expression, while Sasuke was carried away on the stretcher.

"Well, many people will lose money today." Kakashi lowered his forehead protector.

"Why is that?" Ino asked as she was sitting behind.

"Well, lords and other nobles like to make bets during the exam and Sakura wasn't exactly a favorite."

"Oh, I get it, but how on earth did Sakura pull it off?" Ino asked again. "I mean miss forehead here beat the rookie of year."

"You can thank Anre here for training her."

Anre smiled under his mask.

The next fight was between Gosso Baruki and Shino. The sand shinobi wore make up similar to Kankoruos and also had a cacoon on his back. Knowing how the puppets worked Shino had no problem defeating Gosso. He simply secretly sent out his kikai bugs which have eaten the chakra that chakra strings were made of, making Gosso unable to use the puppet.

After that was a fight between Naruto and Kiba. Kiba immediately turned Akamaru in exact replica of himself and attacked Naruto using Gatsuuga. Naruto wasn't as dumb as before to take that attack head on, so he sent several of his clones to distract the two of his opponents. Picking the moment Naruto created the rasengan, but didn't hit the target, but let the ball of chakra explode sending Kiba into the arena wall. The fact that that was real Kiba was pure luck.

Next came a fight between Soakichi Fuari and Hinata. Fuari was a long ranged fighter, which turned out to be helpless agains Hinata which surprised everyone with kaiten. Several palm strikes later her opponent was on the ground caughing out blood.

The first match of the semi finals was between Sakura and Shino. Sakura again started popping around trying to get away from a swarm of insects Shino sent at her. He himself was surrounded by bugs to prevent Sakura from using the chakra scalpel. Finally she got tired of running and popped out behind Shino and charged. Shino sent the bugs that were protecting him, but the swarm went right straight through her. Shino raised his eyebrow, a huge emotional sighn for him as he understood that Sakura created a basic clone. He looked around and saw a big rock turn into grinning Sakura with hands in a seal. Immidiately Shino felt that he couldn't breath. He dropped to the ground holding his throat trying to get atleast some oxygen, but in vain. He couldn't concentrate to manipulate his bugs.

"Give up Shino!"

Shino only nodded as without air he couldn't say a thing. After the referee declared Sakura the winner she released the jutsu.

"What was that jutsu?" he asked greedily briething in oxygen.

"A genjutsu, makes an illusion of being suffocated."

Shino nodded.

"_So, a combination of genjutsu, ability to quikly move around using a substitution and chakra scalpels multiplied by the knowledge of human body. Deadly combination_." Kakashi thought looking at a very satisfied Sakura.

The second semi-final match was between Naruto and Hinata. Naruto looked really sad when he entered the arena, no doubt because he felt awful to fight Hinata.

"Naruto." The blonde raised his head when he heard Hinata's voice. "Don't you dare give up or go easy on me."

"But Hinata…"

"Fight me like you fought Neji, if you respect me."

Naruto looked at his determined girlfriend and nodded. "Ok, if that is what you wish."

Naruto began creating ten clones that tried to pin the girl down, but turned out helpless agains accurate palm strikes. Hinata fought her way to the real Naruto which jumped forward at her, only to be thrown back by kaiten. Hinata didn't waist a moment and charged at naruto trying to close his tenketsu's. Naruto was forced to go on defencive, because now he had no fox's chakra to reopen his tenketsu, neither he wanted to use the rasengan on Hinata. Suddenly Hinata got thrown back by a huge chakra spike Naruto was emitting. She clearly saw chakra tail forming behind him, a total of five, along with claws on his hands and feet.

"looks like I will have to do this." He said, his blue eyes turning slitted, but not red. Now Hinata was moving like in slow motion as his reflexes and other senses boosted up. Hinata attempted to hit Naruto with a direct palm strike, but her blow was blocked and then she was lifted from the ground by one of the chakra tails. Her hands and legs held tight by other four.

The audience was astonished, such teckniques were unheard of. Hinata struggled for a bit, but the smiled at Naruto, declaring that she gave up. Naruto let her go and his fox fearures faded.

"So, that is the fox form." Kakashi revealed his sharingan again. Anre nodded "Yes, but it is still incomplete."

"How come, looks great to me."

"There are supposed to be nine tails." Anre said, but he was impressed by Naruto's progress.

The last match was between Sakura and Naruto. Everyone were guessing who would win, because Sakura's new style was surprising, but Naruto's raw power was also overwhelming.

"Begin!" the referee jumped back.

Sakura immediately attempted to trap Naruto in genjutsu, but he had so much chakra that he easily overpowered it. Then Sakura started popping around trying to get Naruto confused and attack using the chakra scalpel. But when she finally attacked Naruto suddenly jumped to dodge her attempt to damage his leg and flipped in the air giving Sakura a powerful kick on the back of the head with his heel, knocking the girl out. His activated fox senses gave him good enough reactions to jump on pure instinct.

"The winner Uzumaki Naruto!"

Naruto rushed to Sakura who was face down on the ground, her pink hair now getting red on the back of the head. The medics also rushed to the prone girl, and took her away. Back at the seats Anre stood up and went down to the infirmary. When he entered he saw Sakura already awake on the bed as one of the medics was bandaging up her head. She held her forehead protector in her hand to let the medic do his job.

"So, how are you."

"The medics say that it is nothing serious, but it hurts like hell." When the medic was finished she used a simple medical jutsu to numb the pain.

"I never expected Naruto to react so fast."

"You forget about his fox senses."

"Yeah, I guess, but I still can't believe I made it to the finals and beat Sasuke."

"What did I tell you everything is possible if you just try hard enough, and you really worked hard."

"Yep, though I won't be eating eggs for a long time now."

They both burs out laughing as Anre helped Sakura stand up. She was still a bit shaky as he walked her back to the hotel. Tomorrow would be a big day for her as right now Tsunade and jounin senseis were discussing on who to promote to chunin.


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20 Promotions and return to Konoha.

The genin and their jounin senseis were summoned to hokages residence in Suna. Now they stood before the hokage, who was sitting behind her desk. Her jounin guards including Anre were behind her.

"I guess you all know why you were called here, so I won't tease. I and your jounin instructors have made our decitions about who will be promoted to chunin." She stopped for a moment feeling everyone in the room get tenced. "First of all, Aburame Shino get promoted to a chunin, he showed good strategy skills and cool head necessary to a chunin."

Shino stepped forward and Kurenai gave him his chunin vest.

"Next Haruno Sakura gets promoted, for showing tactical skill and good usage of medical knowledge, she will now start more proficient studies as a medical ninja of a chunin rank." Sakura took her chunin vest from Kakashi and saw Anre smiling under his mask.

"Finally Uzumaki Naruto, I must admit there were a few arguments on his promotion, but he did show great combat skills and he is good at last minute planning, so he also gets promoted." A wildly grinning Naruto got his vest from Kakashi aswell.

"Now for a more sad part, I will explain why others weren't promoted." This caught everyones attention.

"First Uchiha Sasuke, underestimating your opponent is a mistake untolerable for even a genin." Sasuke hung his head in shame. But he had to agree, he really lost because he was too confident and didn't see Sakura as a threat.

"Second Inuzuka Kiba, you showed good combat skills, but a chunin is a leader and a strategist, a head on charge with one of your most powerful jutsu is a poor strategy."

Kiba growled, but stayed silent.

"And finally Huuga Hinata, your jounin sensei thought that you are not confident enough to be a leader yet, but in every other way you have proven to be a great shinobi." Hinata beemed at the last comment, because she knew the confidence issue was her problem. She didn't feel sorry, as she felt that she did her best.

"We leave to Konoha tomorrow morning, get ready, as for now dismissed."

Several days later back in Konoha those who participated in chunin exams were given a two week leave from doing mission, other ninja activities such as training stayed. Sasuke was placed on the same team as Kiba and Hinata with Kakashi as their sensei, Haku stayed in team 10.

Sakura's parents decided to throw a small feast to celebrate her promotion, though Sakura's mother wasn't very thrilled with her daughters new look.

"Sakura, why did you change your outfit?"

"It is more practical, I am a ninja afterall."

"Yes, but it so unfeminine."

"Mom, I am a ninja, not a model. My old dress was making me a target."

"ok, ok. Now lets get to the table, will Anre come?"

"yes, I invited him, it is thanks to him I became a chunin afterall."

"Yes, me and your father are very proud, and glad that you are no longer on the same team as that brat."

"I hope you are not talking about Naruto." Sakura's expression changed from happy to cold.

"Ofcource I am talking about him, I was against you being on the same team as that brat, good thing they didn't put that bug kid with you also."

"Mom! Stop talking like that about my friends!"

"friends? How can you socialize with such people is beyond me."

"What do you mean by that? They are my friends, they would never hurt me or anyone close to me, they even got promoted to chunin aswell."

"WHAT! They promoted the demon brat to chunin!"

"He is not a demon, he doesn't even hold it inside of him anymore!"

"Most certainly he is a demon, anyone who had that beast inside is bound to be a monster!" Sakura and her mother were already shouting at each other. "Now that you are a chunin and can pick missions to go on I forbid you from socializing with him!"

"You can't forbid me anything!" Sakura yelled, but received a slap on the cheek from her mother.

"What is going on in here!" Sakura's father entered the room. "I heard shouting."

Sakura was mad as hell at her mother, so she ran out of the room and then out of the door hearing her mother's angry "Sakura!" behind her. When she walked out the door she saw Anre with flowers, who was about to ring a bell.

"Anre, we need to leave."

"But I thought we were having dinner at your place."

"please I need to get away from here."

Anre heard Sakura's mother shout again, so he nodded and wrapped his hand around Sakura's waist, the next second they puffed away.

After they reappeared on the roof several blocks away Anre asked Sakura to tell him what happened, so she told him about the argument with her mother.

"Hmmm, I didn't expect that, you parents seemed quite nice."

"My mother knows how to make an expression, but she is so manipulative sometimes. She always wanted me to date Sasuke, I even had an argument when I told her that I got over him, she even was against you."

"Me, I thought she liked me."

"Not until you became chunin, and she completely settled when I told her about the bounty you received for Orochimaru and the jounin promotion."

"so what do you want to do now?"

"I don't know, but I don't want to go back home, I mean I still love my parents, but I don't want to live with people who don't respect my friends or me."

"you can stay at my place if you like, I have an extra room."

"you mean it?"

"Sure, it is not like I often get guests."

"Thanks, I'd love to, where do you live by the way I have never been to your place, now that I think of it."

"Well, now's your chance, c'mon." they started hopping from roof to roof.

"So, this is your house?"

Anre nodded. His house wasn't very big, but there was a big yard behind it. Anre pulled out a key and opened the door.

"Come in."

Sakura entered the house. She was in a small room that was sort of a corridor, where Anre took off his boots and vest. Sakura did the same with her own vest and sandals. The next room was had two sofas a TV set a tea table and several book shelves and a stairway leading to the second floor.

"Ok, the kitchen is to the right…" Anre pointed to a door way "…..but lets see your room first."

They went to the second floor where Sakura saw two doors opposite of each other. Anre opened the door on the right and Sakura saw a cosy room. It had a bed and a bedtable, a desk with a chair, an umchair by the window and a dresser, there were also several pictures on the wall and a big mirror.

"I am sorry if it is a little bare, it was short notice."

"Oh no, it is great, just needs a womans touch."

"Sure, I am glad you like it. I'll be in the room across, the bathroom is down the hall, I'll go get you some clothes." Sakura nodded. Soon Anre was back holding a pair of shorts and a long red t-shirt, he himself changed aswell, now wearing black pants and a simple gray t-shirt, though there still was a black fingerless glove on his left arm and the rest of it was bandaged up to the shoulder. He also handed her a towel.

'Here, it is not perfect, but should be better than staying in your ninja gear, the towel if you will go to the bathroom." Anre exited the room letting Sakura change.

"Well, how do I look?" she asked when she exited the room. Anre turned around and looked on the girl.

"You don't need to stare."

"Sorry, you just look…. Ummm…. Very nice."

"Thanks, can I see your room?"

"Sure."

When Sakura entered Anre's room she understood why he though her room looked bare. His room had also a bed, a dresser, a desk and an umchair. There was also a weapon rack where his daggers and sword were placed along with the demon shuriken. The rest of the room was filled with book shelves that were holding hundreds of different books and scrolls, his desk also had several scrolls on it and also a picture of her and Anre they took after he got out of hospital, she had a copy at home. There was also a door that as Anre explained led to his closet with other ninja gear.

"wow, you have a whole library here."

"Well, I do like to read, most books here are about shinobi history or famous ninjas, the scrolls mostly contain jutsus or sealing teckniques, if you want to read something you are more then welcome to pick, though the bookshelves downstairs contain books more suited for time spending, novels and such."

"Thanks, I'll look later."

"Ok, now lets get downstairs we were supposed to have dinner afterall and it will soon get very late."

During the night Anre woke up as he heard someone quietly walking into his room. He tensed at first, but then understood who it was.

"Sakura?"

"I am sorry to wake you, it just that I can't sleep." Anre understood by her voice that she must have been crying.

"Get in with me."

Sakura slipped under the covers next to Anre and rested her head on her shoulder.

"Better?" Anre held her tighter and gave a kiss on her forehead. She only snuggled deeper in his shoulder. Soon both were sound asleep.

"Oh, Anre, I am so glad to see you." Sakura's mother opened the door letting Anre inside. "You know, Sakura ran away yesterday and you didn't come, maybe you know where she is, we are worried." Anre also saw Sakura's father in the room.

"Don't worry, she is fine, she spent the night at my place, and that is where she is right now."

"Oh, thank goodness, when will she come back?"

"That is the problem she doesn't want to come back, and I won't force her, I am here actually because she asked me to pick up her things."

"What! But, but…." Sakuras father only sighed.

"Please show me her room, I will have to report to hokage-sama in two hours and I still have other things to do."

"Why didn't she come herself?" sakura's mother asked.

"Most likely for the same reason she left, she doesn't want to see or talk to you."

Sakura's mother was already getting angry. "Who do you think ……."

"'Stop it Rin, your mouth already did enough damage, come Anre-san, I'll show to Sakura's room." Anre nodded and followed Sakura's father upstairs. Once they were alone in Sakura's room the older man spoke again.

"I am sorry for my wife, she has short temper."

"I am not who should receive apologies, and they should come not from you Minao-sama."

"Yes, I understand. Do you think Sakura will come back anytime soon?"

"I don't know, she is a really caring person and suffers aswell, but she will never tolerate disrespect towards her friends, even from her parents, she also doesn't like being manipulated." Anre was busy sealing clothes and other things into scrolls."

"I see, so she is really mad."

"Yes, but don't worry, she can stay at my place for as long as she likes, and I think it will be alright for you to visit in a couple of days. When I mean you, I mean only you Minao-sama." Anre silently handed the man a piece of paper with an address written on it.

"Ok, I understand." Minao pocketed the paper. "I just hope she returns soon, this was so unexpected."

"For her aswell, but some things can never be predicted."

Minao nodded and led Anre to the exit. When the ninja left Rin came up to her husband.

"What did you talk about?"

"About Sakura ofcource."

"Well?"

"Well what?"

"You know pretty well what! What did he say about Sakura."

"She is really mad at us Rin, and is not coming back anytime soon."

"Damn, first that demon nearly destroyed the village, now he destroys our family."

Minao turned to his five and gave her an angry glare. "Keep thinking like that and she will never be back."

"But…"

"Rin, Uzumaki Naruto is her friend, live with that and respect it."

"How can I live knowing she socializes with that monster."

"From what I have heard he is no monster, and she is a ninja, a chunin, she can make her own decidions and disagree with you."

Minao left his five and went upstairs.

"You live where now?" Ino was amazed, when Sakura told the girls, during their lunch break what happened with her parents.

"You heard me, I am staying at Anre's house."

"So, how is t like?"

"What?"

"You know, what is Anre's house like."

"It is nice, has a lot to read and he had a room I could use."

"Sakura, you have got to be the luckiest girl in the world."

"I don't see how having an argument with my mother you can consider lucky, Ino."

"But living together with your boyfriend is." Sakura suddenly blushed when she remembered how and where she spent the night.

"Oh, I see I am right." Ino smirked seeing Sakura turning a shade of crimson that would make Hinata's blush look pale.

"Don't even ask Ino." The girls only giggled at that and Sakura knew that telling them that she stayed with Anre was a mistake. She was only saved when Shizune called them back for training.

In the evening Sakura got to study the effects of different type of venoms to human body. Anre had several good books to help in his private library. She was a little sad, because Tsunade has sent him on a mission, but he was supposed to be away for only a couple of days. The subject of studies was rather interesting and Sakura didn't notice how it was already getting dark. The only thing that managed to get her attention was a sudden knock on the door. Sakura was puzzled, because Anre sisn't tell her about possible visitors before he left, so she did the only logical thing, she went downstairs and opened the door.

"Dad?"

"Hello dear, good to see you."

"What are you doing here?"

"Mind if I come in?" Minao's voice seemed a little tired.

"Sure, come in."

Sakura's father went inside and took a seat on the sofa after taking his shoes off.

"So this is Anre's house, nice."

"Father, why did you come?"

Sakura took the sit opposite of him.

"I came to see how are you and to talk."

"I am not coming back, atleast not now."

"I know, I won't force you or anything, and before you ask your mother doesn't know I am here."

"How is she?"

"Partly sad, partly furious, blames everything on Naruto and Anre."

"They have nothing to do with it!" Sakura stood up.

"Calm down dear, I know. I'll be honest with you, I don't have any particular liking in Naruto, but I respect your decidions." Sakura calmed a bit and sat down again. After that Minao continued.

"I trust you and your opinion, especially considering you know a lot people way better than me and your mother. I have nothing against your friendship with Naruto or anyone else."

"what about mother?"

Minao sighed. "She is a different story. You know, she really cares about you, but she is such a person that finds it hard to admit mistakes, so she finds someone to blame. I tried to talk to her, but in vain, I really don't know how to untie this knot."

"Maybe time will help."

"Maybe, but I don't think it will solve the problem, hiding from it won't help."

"I know, but what do we do then, you know that I won't come back and apologise, considering I am not the one that has to."

"I know, I know, I can't see a way out, you both are so stubborn." Minao grabbed his head.

"I can't see a way out too, it seems I will be staying here for a while."

"So it seems, but I am happy that you can stay here, if there is someone I trust to keep you safe, then it is Anre, where is Anre by the way?"

"Hokage-sama gave him a mission, should be back in a couple of days."

"I understand…. So how's it been, princess?" the question lightned up the atmosphere releasing the pressure.

"Fine, as it is possible, I settled in comfortably."

"Yes, I see Anre has a good place."

"Missed a woman touch though."

"I bet, Anre is a nice guy, but still a guy, there are somethings that only a woman is good for." They both laughed for a bit.

"Dad, you want tea?"

"Yes, I'd love to."

"Ok, I'll go make some, you can take a look around if you like, my room is upstairs on the right." Sakura left to the kitchen, while Minao considered using his daughter's permission to look around. He noted a large amount of books in the room they sat at. He then went upstairs, afterall he had to see if the place his daughter was staying at was suitable. He entered the door on the right. The room he ended up in made a good expression on him, it had everything his daughter might need. He saw several things from her room back at their house, like some posters, or her headband and the pictures on the bedtable. There were three pictures in total. The first one was of her former team, it looked rather happy as her sensei and Sakura in the center were smiling. Her two teammates were glaring at each other while having Kakashi's hands on their heads. The second picture was of her and Anre. Minao remembered that it was taken several days after Anre left the hospital. Anre on the picture was wearing his usual black outfit, though his mask and hood were taken off. His hand was around Sakuras shoulder while she was hugging him around his waist. Minao smiled at the picture, because his daughter really looked happy on it. The last picture on the other hand made him sad, as it was the picture of their family, taken just before sakura graduated from the academy, it reminded of simplier times. Minao sighed and put the picture back, soon he heard Sakura calling him down for tea.


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21 The clan concerns.

Two days later there was another knock on the door at Anre's house, only this time when Sakura opened the door she not hers, but Hinata's father.

"Hiashi-sama?"

"Haruno-san, what are you doing here, I thought this was Anre-san's house."

"it is, I live here due to… private reasons."

Hiashi raised his eyebrow, but nodded. "Can I see Anre-san, please?"

"Certanly, please, come in. He returned from a mission this morning." Sakura led Hiashi to one of the sofas.

"Anre! There is someone to see you." Sakura obviously screamed to somebody upstairs. Soon Anre made his way down, wearing the gray t-shirt and pants he usually wore at home. Hiashi didn't even recognize him at first as he earlier only saw the young jounin wearing his black ninja outfit with most of his face hidden. The only thing that looked odd was a fingerless glove and the bandages on his left hand. Hiashi remembered that the boy got seriously injured in a fight with Orochimaru.

"Hiashi-sama? What do I get the pleasure of your visit for?" Anre took a sit opposite of Hiashi.

"I am here because of a private matter." Hiashi looked at Sakura for a second.

"If you want to say, say in front of Sakura aswell, I assure you that unless you want it, our conversation will not leave this room." Anre made a handseal and seal appeared on the wall behind him, which Hiashi recognized as the sound seal, making it impossible to listen to their conversation from outside the house.

"I'll go get some tea." Sakura hurried to the kitchen.

"So, Hiashi-sama, what did you want to talk about."

"I suppose you know of the relationship between my elder daughter and Uzumaki Naruto." Anre nodded. "Well, I have nothing against the boy, but the Huuga council might, if their relationship is to continiue I need a reason to give to the council"

"Hiashi-sama, I am not an expert in love or family affairs."

"I know, but you have experience in something else."

"I see, you mean the binding contract."

"yes, I do, I think Naruto possessing such might convince the council."

Sakura came back with the tea and sat next to Anre. Everyone took a sip from their cups.

"So, what exactly would you like to know."

"We the Huugas already have our family treasure: the byakugan and juuken, so I would like to know what effect the binding contract might have on them."

Anre thought for a moment taking another sip from the tea. "First of all I think you must know that to sighn the contract you must first obtain the permission of both its holder, which is now Naruto and the boss summon. The boss will never allow too many people to share the contract, usually only the closest people in the family get to sighn it: wifes, children, parents, cousin's at most. Like I will give Sakura here sighn mine when time comes." Sakura turned red at that comment at quikly hid her face behind a cup.

"So there is no chance the whole clan will get the contract?"

'Most certanly not, most likely if Naruto will join your clan he will form another branch of your family. Now to your question Hiashi-sama. The binding contract doesn't make any differences in the genes, so it will not do anything to the byakugan. It only might become stronger, because Naruto's contract grants superior sences, improved sight included, so your all seeing eyes might become even more all seeing if you understand what I mean." Hiashi nodded.

"It will also most likely delete any weaknesses the byakugan has."

"Weaknesses, the byakugan has no weaknesses."

"Everything has a weakness, even the byakugan, for example it can't see underground, has a blind 5 degree spot and the wielder can be blinded when he sees to much chakra. I noticed it observing Neji's and Hinata's kaiten, they always close their eyes doing it."

Hiashi had to agree to this, he was slightly surprised tha Anre knew so much about their teckniques, but had to admit that while performing kaiten closing the eyes was necessary not to get blinded by too much chakra.

"But how will the contract improve those weaknesses."

"Hiashi-sama, I already said about the senses, they include improved smell and hearing also, so what the byakugan can't see, it's wielder will hear or smell. Improved reflexes will help with juuken."

"Anything else?"

"Yes, the contract grants great chakra reserves, so those who sighn it most likely will have to work very hard on chakra control, but can almost forget about chakra building exercises. Add to it great stamina and inhuman regeneration rates and ofcource the summons." Anre stopped letting the information sink.

"And the last thing. The contract destroys and prevents from using any chakra seals and sealing teckniques on its wielder. That is why the nine tailed fox gave Naruto the contract. Sighning it Naruto destroyed the seal the fourth Hokage made, freeing the fox, but also making sure it could never attack the village again, not that he wanted though. The same will happen with the caged bird seal, should you or anyone else try to plase it on Naruto or anyone else who sighned the contract."

Hiashi nodded again and finished the tea. "Thank you for your explanation, but I feel like the council might want to ask you questions first hand, may I expect you to came if necessary."

"Certanly, I will do it to help Naruto and Hinata, but he also should be there, because there are question only he could answer, like some details and such."

"I see, than I think I might throw sort of a grand dinner with most of the council and you and Naruto invited."

"That would work, but there is one thing ….." Anre suddenly smiled "…. Make Hinata teach him proper etiquette first."

Hiashi smiled aswell. "Thank you again for your help." He stood up and bowed. "I also thank you for your hospitality and for the tea." The last remark was addressed to Sakura, who blushed a little.

"One more thing, when are you planning to throw a dinner?"

"I can't say exactly right now, in a month or so."

"I see, we'll keep that in mind."

"You have a lovely house Anre-san, I would like to come here sometime again, and you have some interesting literature."

"Certanly, it will be our pleasure, and you are more then welcome to borrow anything you like."

"I thank you for your proposal, I will certainly use it, but right now I have urgent matters to attend to." With that Hiashi took his leave.

Anre stood for a moment and then turned to Sakura "You have a good formal dress to wear?"

"Anre, you are so right, I have to go buy one, I haven't wore my old one in ages.'

"Then I guess we will go shopping tomorrow, I need a new formal outfit aswell."

The two weeks of mission free time was coming to an end the genin and new chunin were beginning to do missions again. Boring D-ranks for genin, and C and B-ranks for chunins. Kiba always said that he couldn't wait for this years graduation from the academy so he and his team could move on from D-ranks, as it was usual for new genin to do those lame and boring missions. Soon Shino, Naruto, Sakura and Anre were called to Tsunade.

"Ok chunin and jounin, I have a mission for you."

"Wohoooo!" Naruto punched air and received a smack on the head from Sakura, making him shut up.

"Thank you Haruno, now for important things. As you are new to the rank of chunin you will mostly do C-ranks for now. You will also still mostly work as a squad to learn how to lead one. For some time Anre will be joining you, or I might make you join genin teams for a mission. Today your assighment is to track down a group of bandits we were getting reports on to the south from the village"

"Is it a capture and imprison mission?" Anre asked, but Tsunade only shook her head.

"No, elimination, you are to kill all the bandits, it will be a sighn to all those who break the law. Dismissed, Anre, you stay."

When the chunin left the office to prepare for the mission Tsunade spoke again. Both she and Anre noted that the newly promoted chunin were a little pale when they left.

"Anre, I guess you already know why I asked you to join them." The black ninja nodded.

"As chunin they will have to kill and the first kill is often the hardest. They might need someone who can understand them nearby." Anre agreed with that. His first kill was an unpleasant experience to say the least.

"I will do my best hokage-sama." Anre bowed and left the office and saw Sakura waiting for him outside.

"Anre, I will have to kill during this mission?" Sakura asked as they were walking towards their home.

"Yes, I am afraid it is part of being a ninja, a gruesome part, but still."

"How does it feel to take life?"

"I won't lie, when I killed for the first time I felt terrible, but you get over it, and get used to it."

"I am afraid I am going to feel like a monster."

"Sakura….." Anre hugged her on the shoulder "… keep in mind, that as a true ninja, when you end life, you save others, those who have more right to live."

Sakura nodded, but still felt uneasy.

"Everyone in position?" Anre asked on the radio as they located the bandid camp in the woods. They used Shinos bugs to scout the area. The camp had several tents that housed around 10 bandits, who were part sleeping, part doing hell knows what.

"Yes, awaiting orders." Anre heard from his earpiece.

"Good, Shino you take the two near the campfire. Sakura, those three who are playing cards are yours. Naruto the three that are sleaping are yours, they are scattered so use your clones. I'll take the two by the weapon rack. Ready? Then go!"

Anre appeared in a puff of smoke next to two his targets that got their throats slit before they could even grab their weapons. As his part was over Anre looked around if anyone else needed help.

Shino obviously didn't, his targets were so terrified of his bugs that they couldn't even move to dodge his kunai.

Sakura used a substitution with the rock her targets used for a card table and immediately used the chakra scalpel to severe the closest targets spinal nervs near his neck, first paralising and then killing him. The next one jumped up but received a kunai between his eyes. The last pulled out his katana and tried to cut the girls head off, but she simply ducked and thrust another kunai into the mans gut, then pulled it out and while the body was falling down past her, hit it in the back with same kunai finishing the job.

Naruto created a dozen of clones that jumped his targets at the same time. As they were asleep they didn't even understand who or what killed them. The one bandit Naruto attacked himself got hit with the rasengan and the upper part of his body got torn to pieces.

As the adrenalin left the blood the chunin looked around at their handy work. Narutos clones puffed out of existence and the blonde thew up dropping on all fours. Shino looked stable, but Anre noticed that he was paler than usual and at the same time was sweating. Sakura was shaking trying to hold the tears away.

Anre ordered his teammates to get into the woods. When they got to the clearing several hundred meters away Sakura finally burst into tears. Anre embrased her trying to comfort. He actually hated to see her going through a thing like this, but it was necessary if she wanted to be a kunoichi. The boys dropped near the tree as Anre seated the sobbing girl and sat next to her not letting go from an embrace.

"I am sorry that you all had to go through this, but this is a part of our job, a ninja is expected to kill, learning to live with it is something every ninja has to learn. Trust me, I know how you feel, but unlike you may think of yourselves, you are not monsters or murderers. You just do what you must to protect the village and those close to you."

Naruto and Shino nodded and Sakura also calmed down. So they hurried back to the village to report on mission sucsess and to get rid of the discusting scent of blood.

Tsunade listned to the mission report and gave the ninjas in front of her the paperwork necessary to fill by the next day. After that she dismissed the chunin, but again asked Anre to stay. Sakura whispered to him that she was going home to get a shower. By home she now meant his house.

"So, how did they take it."

"Normally."

"You mean?"

"They took it hard, but already almost got over it, they will be able to live with it."

"I see, thank you for your help, this will go down as a B-rank in your records."

"Thank you hokage-sama."

"Don't mention it, good work, here is the paperwork you need to fill, you know the drill."

"This will help them aswell." Anre chuckled.

"What do you mean?"

"Paperwork, it far more horrible than killing."

Looking at her paperlittered desk Tsunade had no choice but to agree.

Anre decided to drop at the dango shop to by some for Sakura. She loved dango and Anre thought it would cheer her up. When he got home Sakura was already out of the shower wearing a loose t-shirt and a pair of shorts. She was filling up the paperwork and from what Anre saw she was already hating it.

"I brought you something." he leaned over her.

"Huh, what?"

Anre put the dango on the table instead of answering. Sakura immediately grabbed some.

"Thanks."

"For dango?"

"not only, thanks for helping me go through this."

"it is the least I could do, but lets stop thinking about it and go eat somewhere in the evening."

"Sure, I'd love to." Sakura gave him a peck on the cheek and Anre left upstairs to grab a shower and change.

The next day Sakura's father came. He now always visited every two or three days. When he knocked he saw Anre open the door.

"Minao – sama, good to see you, I'll go get Sakura."

Minao entered the house and soon sae his daughter and Anre coming out of the kitchen.

"Dad! Great to see you." She gave her father a hug.

"I am happy to see you too, princess, but where have you been, I came yesterday, but noone answered."

"Oh, we got a mission yesterday, you must have come while we were away doing it."

"So how did it go?"

"We did ok."

Minao noticed that Sakura's expression darkned momentarily, but threw it away.

"Well, I am glad, any other news?"

"Well, yes, we got invited to a dinner at the Huuga manor."

"The Huugas invited you, whoah."

"Well, it is sort of thanks to Anre, I am coming as his pair."

"I see, but still a dinner with the Huugas, such high level society, I am impressed."

"Thanks, we already bought new formal clothes."Great, I'll tell your mother that I overheard about you at work."

Sakura's expression darkned for a moment again.

"Ok, maybe it will help."

"Maybe."

"Ok, I'll go make tea." Sakura smiled and hurried to the kitchen.

"She adapted well in here." Minao told Anre as his daughter left.

"Yes, I guess so."

"She acts not like a guest you know, more like the lady of the house."

Anre smiled. "I relly hope one day she becomes one."

"Me too, me too."


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

"So, how's it been Naruto?"

Anre met the blond chunin as he was leaving the hokage tower.

"Fine, just reported a C-rank, one thing for sure, being a chunin is not boring."

"Any news?"

"Well, no, just Hinata has been a little strange lately, asked me to learn the proper manner and such and I just can't say no to her."

Anre smiled. "perhaps she wants you to make a good expression on her father, the Huugas are very traditional after all."

"Never thought about it that way." Naruto scratched his head. "Anyhow, how are the things at your place?"

"You mean Sakura?"

Naruto nodded. He naturally knew everything from Hinata.

"She still lives with me and most likely will for quite some time."

"Like you don't like it."

Anre was glad that he was wearing a mask, because he felt that he was blushing.

"I do, but I'd prefer it happen on different circumstances."

"So it isn't working out with her parents, huh?"

"Well, her father seems understanding, he visits her often, but her mother is a different story, they are not on speaking terms I am afraid."

"Don't worry, I think everything will get better in time."

"I hope so, I hate to see Sakura sad because of this."

"She's strong, she'll pull through."

Suddenly their conversation was stopped by a loud "HEY BOSS!"

Anre and Naruto turned around to see Konohomaru and his friends.

"Oh, hi guys, what are you doing here?" Naruto looked down at his rival and friend.

"What, don't you remember boss, you promised to play ninja with us today."

"Oh crap, I forgot. Anre, will you please help me out here, I have a date with Hinata, please, pretty please."

A huge sweat drop formed at the back of Anre's head as he saw his friend pleading him, the only thing misssing was him standing on his knees.

"Hey, I remember you." Konohomaru pointed at Anre. "You are that guy who beat the dude with the puppet." Moegi shivered as she remembered the short fight.

"oh yes, I remember, you were never properly introduced. But I guess you already know names, so I'll skip it." Naruto gave his foxy grin.

"Fine, I'll help out Naruto, but this once, and only because Hinata is waiting for you."

"Thanks, I'll owe you." With Naruto raised off leaving Anre with three kids.

"Ok, so you will play ninja with us." Konohamaru looked at Anre, who thought for a moment.

"Actually I don't feel like playing ninja, because I am a ninja, but how about I teach you something."

"You will teach us a jutsu!" Konohamaru screamed.

"Err, no, but something any ninja has to know. Deal?"

"Deal"

"Fine then, follow me I don't feel like teaching you in the middle of the street and my house has a yard so, lets go."

Anre led the kids back to his place. When they came instead of entering the house Anre led them to the back into the wide yard that had several practice dummies and targets to train in missle fire.

"Ok, I trust you all are in the academy, which year?"

"We will be graduating next year." Udon mentioned whipping the snot from his nose.

"So, I trust you know about chakra elements?" Konohomaru had a confuced look, but Moegi quikly answered.

"Iruka-sensei said that there are a total of 5 elements, fire, water, wind, earth and lightning."

"Correct. Each ninja has an affinity towards one or two elements, rarely more. So today we will learn what are yours."

"Great!" Konohamaru punched air. Anre suddenly puffed away, but reappeared a minute later. He handed the kids each a small slip of paper.

"before you ask, this is a chakra sensitive paper, depending on your affinity it will react differently, observe." Anre pulled up his own paper and poured a little chakra into it. The paper suddenly crumbled and became extremely wet. "As you see the paper crumbled, that means that I have an affinity for lightning. It also became very wet, showing that I have a very strong affinity to water. Now lets see you try, pour some chakra into the paper. You first Moegi."

The girl concentrated and the paper suddenly burst into flames. With a shreek the girl dropped it.

"Your element is fire Moegi. Now you Udon."

The boys paper seconds later turned to dust.

"Udon is earth. Konohamaru."

A very serious expression appeared on Konohamarus face, soon his paper crumbled.

"And Konohamaru is lightning. So now that you know which element you have an affinity for you can easily pick the jutsus to learn, those that correspond to your element will be easyer to perform and will be more powerful. But remember, learning the jutsu of a certain element is not the same as chakra nature manipulation."

"What do you mean sensei." Anre chuckled at him being called sensei.

"It would be easyer to show." Anre formed a water clone.

"See, the jutsu uses water element, but I use normal chakra to perform it, now look here."

Anre started gathering chakra around his fist, first there wasn't anything special in it except for it's amout, but then it started to change shape and colour until it resembled water flowing around the wrist. Seconds later Anre released the tecknique.

"As you have seen I changed the nature of my chakra to make it resemble water. Lesson over." Anre smiled at the three kids.

"Cool, can we learn to change the chakra's nature."

"Sure, but first master normal chakra learning the jutsu's that use your element. Library has tons of jutsus you can learn, so I suspect you will be busy."

"_nice bunch._" Anre thought as he looked at the trio walking away talking about their elements.

Soon the time of the dinner at the Huuga estate came. Anre and Sakura were informed by a branch member that told them that they were invited and about the time. And now the pair entered the gates of the famous huuga estate, where they were greeted by Hiashi and his younger daughter Hanabi. Anre was wearing a black formal robe with the dashes of blood red. He had his sword strapped to his waist and as usual there was a glove on his left arm, only this time it wasn't fingerless and was made of silk instead of leather. Sakura was wearing a red kimono with a green obi, to match her eyes, her pink hair was let loose to drop down to her waist.

"Greetings Hiashi-sama." They both bowed to the head of the Huugas. Hiashi was about to return the bow when he heard his daughter speaking.

"Father who are they and what are they doing here?"

"Hanabi, pay respect."

"But they are not of our clan, what are they doing here."

"They are here because I invited them, be respectful Hanabi." The girl made an unsatisfied face and made sort of a bow.

"Hanabi, why don't you go greet other guests." Hiashi told his daughter who walked away. He then turned to Anre and Sakura, who lost their smiles at a greeting like this.

"Charming." Anre said sarcastically.

"I am sorry for my daughters behaviour, she is overly pridful of being a Huuga."

"So I've seen but I am not to hold a grudge at a child, so lets think that it never happened."

"As you wish, but please, come inside, you will be shown to your seats."

Anre and Sakura were led inside by a branch family member and were seated not far from the head of the table. The Huuga clan was very traditional and unlike most people, the Hugas ate in an old way, seating on pillows at a low table. They were greeted by Naruto and Hinata, who already were there. Naruto was wearing a robe similar to the one Anre was wearing only his was a mix of blue and white. Hinata wore a lavender kimono with white obi. Anre was surprised to see a serious looking Naruto, who wasn't grinning or running around like an idiot. Hinata's lessons sure payed off, though this new look was too foreigh to him.

"You two look great." Sakura said sitting down. Anre soon followed unstrapping his sword and placing it by his side.

"Thanks, you too." Hinata replied looking very prod to be sitting like that next to Naruto.

Half an hour later the hall was fool of people. Anre noticed that he, Sakura and Naruto were the only non Huugas present. Soon the servants started serving food and most of the people were engaged ia a talk with each other, until one of the elders looked up at Naruto.

"Naruto-san, we were talking and an interesting subject raised, with which ou might help us."

Naruto perked up. "Certanly, what is that you would like to ask me."

"Well, we heard that you now posess the binding contract with the demon foxes and we just were wondering, how does it change people." Naruto wanted to answer, but was beaten to it by Anre.

"honorable elder, sorry for interrupting, but I also posess a binding contract, and I've had for far longer than Naruto, so I suppose I could answer your questions more precisely."

The elders talked to each other for a second.

"Yes, please."

"Thank you, as for your question, the binding contract doesn do anything on genetical level, but adds new features to the body and modifies the chakra system."

"Oh, I see, but what was that about chakra system, why does it happen and how drastical are the changes?"

"It depends on the contract, the easiest way to see the changes I suppose is to use the Huuga clan bloodlimit. I am not against it and I think Naruto here will not oppose either."

Anre looked questionably at Naruto who shrugged and then nodded turning to the elders. Most of the Huugas activated their byakugan. Several minutes later another elder spoke up.

"Incredible, their chakra system has some major differences."

Anre nodded "Yes, as you have seen, I have 3 times more tenketsus around my lungs and almost 5 times more around my eyes, I can only speculate about Naruto's changes, but I guess he has a lot more tenketsus around his eyes, nose, mouth and in general all over his body."

"Why such changes Anre-san, how is that explained."

"First of all signing the contract gives you immence chakra capacity, more tenketsu and a more complicated chakra system allows wielding it without strainig the body and allows to achieve a good level of chakra control. Second, more tenketsus around different areas are needed to properly perform teckniques granted by the contract. For instance, I have more tenketsus around the lungs, because of my fire breath."

"Fire breath? With what animal do you have a contract with Anre-san?"

"The dragons." Anre said calmly taking a sip from the cup. His statement threw some of the Huuga elders in a state of shock. Soon they were back to the talking among each other, until another elder asked.

"Last question, what happens when a person with the bloodlimit sighns the contract?"

"You mean what happens with the bloodlimit?" The elder nodded. Most of the elders were now showing precise attention to what Anre was going to answer.

"Honorable elders, you forget, the binding contract is not a bloodlimit. Nothing will happen if a person with, lets say byakugan, signs Narutos contract. Most likely it will only make the bloodlimit stronger, especially Narutos, as it affect persons senses. The only thing that might happen is that person gains some different visible traits."

"We understand Anre-san, thank you for your explanation." The elders went back to their talking like the recent conversation was nothing special, though even the usually dense Naruto understood that it was of most importance, especially for him and Hinata.

A week later he would crash into their house along with Hinata screaming that Naruto was offered to become a honorary member of the Huuga clan and that now they were betrothed. Another week later Anre and Sakura told them that they were betrothed aswell, on the courtesy of Sakura's father, who gave them his blessing, though he then was forced to endure a major scandal at home when he told his wife about it, this certainly didn't help with Sakura's relationship with her mother. Ofcource both pairs had to wait for another 2 years before they all would turn sixteen to get married.


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23 The sound again.

"I still can't believe it, first Naruto and Hinata and now you two."

Ino ans Sakura were returning from the studies with Shizune.

"I mean how is that possible, that you with your forehead are now engaged to a jounin, a blonde idiot is engaged to a Huuga heiress and here I am, the prettiest girl on the block without even an actual boyfriend." Ino began wawing her hands around. Sakura only smiled not even being offended by the forehead comment.

"Do you atleast have any targets?"

"Certanly, now that yo are out of the way it is ofcource only the matter of time before Sasuke-kun will be mine."

"Umm, about that, I think you should forget about Sasuke."

"Sakura, if you so stupid to throw away the best guy on the block then I am not."

"Ino, Sasuke is dating Haku."

That made the blonde run face flat into the tree.

"What!? How do you know, and how come I don't?"

"They were sort of keeping it a secret. It is just the café they often come to is not far from Anre's house, so I've seen them"

"Why didn' you tell me."

"I respect other people's secrets Ino."

"But why would they keep it a secret?"

"Well, Sasuke perhaps not to draw attention and Haku, perhaps she is afraid of Zabusa chopping Sasuke in half."

"Great! Now what I am supposed to do!"

"There is always Lee." Sakura chukled, but Ino was too upset to see the joke.

"You are kidding, did you see his eyebrows?"

"Nothing a pair of scissors can't fix."

"More like a lawnmower, and I really don't feel like hearing about my flames of youth."

"Well, there are other guys, just look around."

"Easy for you to say."

"Hey, it is not my fault I looked beyond Sasuke."

"Yeah, yeah, now I am going to get a headache."

In the mean time Sasuke was returning from his date with Haku. He actually really liked their quiet dates. She was a lot like him. Last of the clan, family butchered by someone she was close with. A bloodlimit she was responsible for, only she was hated for hers.

Two very similar fates, Sasuke understood that he ended up with her, because she was almost the only person that could understand him, they shared the same pain and could comfort each other. Not to mention a girl like her would be more than welcome to help him recreate the Uchiha clan and make it even more powerful that it ever was. That last thought made him remember the way they went to eat together for the first time.

FLASHBACK

"When will it end!" Sasuke screamed as he was trying too get away from a mob of fangirls, his usual morning routine actually. He turned the corner bumped into someone causing them both to fall. He was immediately surrounded by girls, who began crying at him to take them out on a date.

"Girls, please, go away, I can't take you because……" Sasuke looked around and saw that the person he bumped in was Haku. "…because I have already asked Haku here out."

The statement made most of the girls back away with gasps. Sasuke took the opportunity to grab Haku's hand and run away. Actually Haku was more like dragged away because Sasuke was running at a speed matching Lee's without his weights. Soon they both were far enough, safe.

"Thanks, I owe you one." Sasuke said panting.

"Welcome I guess."

"Anything I can do to pay up, I hate being in debt."

Haku thought for a moment.

"Well, tecknically you asked me out, so treat me to some tea."

"Fine, as you wish."

Soon Haku led him away to her favourite small café.

FLASHBACK ENDS.

Sasuke was passing by the gates of the village when he saw a strange group approaching. The one in front was somehow familiar, Sasuke also saw that they were ninjas as they had forehead protectors, but they were too far away to make out a symbol, so he decided to stay. The two chunin who were usually on guard duty soon also were awake as the group got closer. Suddenly it sawned on Sasuke where he saw the person in front, it was Kabuto. Sasuke realized that he hasn't seen the boy since the sound/sand invasion. As the group entered the gates they were suddenly surrounded by ANBU.

"Stay right there, why are you here, sound nins."

Sasuke looked closer and managed to make out a sound village symbol on Kabuto's headband.

"That man is a traitor, I remember him being at the chunin exams almost a year ago, posing as a Konoha genin!" Sasuke yelled getting closer to the group.

"Ahh, Sasuke-kun, it took so much planning to try and get you into the sound village, yet here you are, but don't worry, we mean no harm this time." Kabuto adjusted the glasses.

"Drop any weapons you might carry and stand down." The ANBU captain demanded. To Sasuke's surprises the sound ninjas obeyed dropping their kunai, shuriken, ninja wire. Kabuto dropped a pack of senbon needles.

"Who is in charge among you?"

"That would be me, I have a message to hokage from the new otokage."

"Fine, your comrades will be taken into custody, but I assure that as long as they behave they will avoid harm. You will be taken to meet hokage, but you will be tied up and wear a chakra suppressing seal." The ANBU captain said with a voice that left no place for arguments. Kabuto nodded and one of the ANBU placed a seal on his forehead, then tied his hands. Other sound ninjas were taken away, while Kabuto was escorted away by four ANBU towards the hokage tower. Sasuke raced off to inform others.

"What do you want Kabuto, and don't try to explain anything, we know about you being a spy." Tsunade sat behind her table, two ANBU behind her and four beside and behind a tied up Kabuto.

"I won't, right now I am a messenger."

"Speak."

"The sound village asks for peace, we don't need war, considering us being a rather young village."

"Why should we, you invaded us."

"So did the sand, yet you reestablish the alliance, besides we only followed the orders of our kage, isn't disobeying an order in your village also called treason?"

"Your kage was Orochimaru, a missing nin."

"Tecknically if a missing nin is accepted in a village he is no longer one, starting his own village is one way of doing it. His village was officially accepted by Suna."

"Why do you want peace."

"We ourselves don't like this war, most were against it, but we had to obey the one who started our village, which is now our home. We also are willing to share this and later more, as a token of good will."

Tsunade took a file Kabuta gave her and took a glance at it, her eyrs widing. Silence raised in the room as Tsunade was in deep thought. Finally she looked up.

"Fine, a bad peace is better than a good war, but as a hokage I can only order a ceasefire, this will stop our shinobi killing eachtoher on sight, but the decition of peace will be with the council along with the terms." Kabuto gave a small smile.

"Untie him." Tsunade ordered and one of the ANBU cut the ropes and removed the seal.

"You and your comrades are now free to wander the village, but any attempt to cause trouble will bring dire consequences. Your weapons and ninja gear will be returned when you leave. I advise you find a hotel, because it might take some time for you to be brought before the council." Tsunade wawed off letting Kabuto leave and called Shizune to prepare an order to ceasefire with the Sound and an order to distribute the copy of the file she had among the jounin, hunter nins and jounins and an order to update the bingo book. Shizune nodded and took the file that had a single word written for a title "Akatsuki"

When Kabuto stepped out of the tower he wasn't even much surprised to see Sasuke and some of the people he met at the chunin exams.

"Why hello there, nice to see you all again."

"Why are you here Kabuto?" Anre asked.

"Don't worry I came to propose peace and your hokage seems to be in favor, as for you Anre, I see you carry a trophy from the fight with my former master." Kabuto pointed at a sword strapped to Anre's back.

"That is not the only mark that he left me." Anre raised his left arm clutched in a fist. The fact that Anre was wearing a glove told Kabuto everything, afterall he was a good medical specialist.

"I would be dammed if you would've been unharmed after facing Orochimaru, we back at the sound were rather surprised to find out that he and his most loyal bodyguards were dead."

"So why propose peace only now?" Sakura spoke from behind Anre.

"You see there was a matter of overthrowing a party in favaor of the war, it took time."

"So hokage let you go?" Sasuke relaxed a bit.

"Yes, she did."

"Then we have no quarrel with you." Anre walked off together with Sakura.

Kabuto shook his head as Anre and his fiancée disappeared.

"Why don't I see that blonde loudmouth that nearly beat you, Sasuke?"

Sasuke threw a death glare "He is probably at the Huuga manor, settleing in."

Kabuto raised an eyebrow.

"He is betrothed with the hairess of the clan."

Kabuto burst out in laughter. "That's a good one."

"It's the truth."

Kabuto looked at Sasuke's serious face and his smile faded.

"Well what do you know, a lucky bastard, good for him. Know a hotel I can stay at?"

"You've been a spy in Konoha as I understand, you shouldn't ask." With tha Sasuke jumped to the rooftops, leaving a smirking Kabuto in the street.

"So, where are we going?"

"Lets go see how Naruto is doing, Hiashi did give us permission to enter the huuga estate whenever we want." Anre replied.

"Great idea, I still find it hard to call Naruto a Huuga."

"We rarely called him Uzumaki also, I always thought of him as just Naruto."

"Yeah, I know what you mean, but now he is a member of a very powerful clan."

"No matter, I bet he will always be a loud hyperactive blonde that makes others happy."

"I hope so."

Soon they got to the estate and the informed guards silently let them through.

"Excuse me, where can we find Huuga Naruto?" Anre asked.

"Follow the road to the training grounds." Was a cold reply, as expected from a guard.

As they were walking they met Hiashi. The pair greeted the elder with a polite bow, after which he returned.

"Greeting Anre-san, Sakura-san. Why did you come."

"Nothing special, just a friendly visit, and some news."

"I see, then follow me, Naruto is at the training ground, training, I am surprised to say that that boy is workaholic, such determination."

"What is he training at?"

"His old sensei came two days ago, since the boy is a chunin he was advised to start chakra elemental training."

"About time, what element is he?"

"Wind" Anre's eyes widened in shock.

"Wind, that is rare and powerful, suits him perfect though."

"I agree, the boy is like the wind, never stays still."

"And just like the wind he can be both gentle and ruthless." Sakura added. "Though his friends can only experience the gentle side."

"There he is."

Sakura and Anre saw a very concentrated Naruto trying to cut a leave with his chakra. As soon as he noticed his friends he rushed to them, giving a bow to Hiashi on the way.

"Hey, nice to see you guys."

"You two, how does it feel to live with the Huugas." Anre and Naruto shacked hands.

"Great, though there is one bad side."

"What is it?" Sakura asked as Naruto's face turned sad suddenly.

Naruto raised his head and they saw tears coming. "They don't have ramen here."

Everyone sweatdropped. Naruto then turned to his normal bright self.

"So, Naruto, training in chakra elemental nature, wind is a great element."

"Yeah, I know, which one are you by the way."

"You could've guessed by now Naruto" Sakura rolled her eyes.

"Water and lightning Naruto."

"Wow, you have two."

"Most jounins do."

"And you Sakura? Which element are you?"

"Earth, but since I am a medical and genjutsu expert I have little use for this knowledge."

"Oh, I get it. C'mon lets go see Hinata training, I do need a break."

The group followed the blonde to a dojo not to far and saw Hinata sparring with her younger sister. Hinata grew a great deal after getting together with Naruto, the days when Hanabi could beat her due to Hinata's lack of confidence were long past. You could easily say that Hinata was holding back. Naruto and Sakura went to take a seat, while Anre stayed to talk to Hiashi. The tow girls were two busy sparring to notice their new audience.

"is she letting he hair grow?" Sakura suddenly said, noticing that Hinata's hair was longer.

"Yep, wants it to get shoulder length." Naruto replied.

"Impressive." Anre stated, looking at the sparr.

"Yes, I am proud of my daughters, though now it is Hanabi who disappoints me sometimes."

Anre observed a fight more closely and noticed what Hiashi was referring to.

"I see, she doesn't stay cool, takes this fight personally, she is angry, makes mistakes she shouldn't."

"yes, she got like this ever since Hinata started beating her in spars."

"I see, she now think she got weaker."

"Perhaps."

"Is she graduating this year?"

"No, a year later, why?"

"Oh nothing, nothing. As for the news, I think you will be interested in a fact that we might soon have piece with the sound village."

Hiashi was intrigued "How so?"

"We saw the messenger, it is Kabuto, the one that was a spy before the sound/sand invasion."

"Interesting, this peace will benefit us, I will surely support in the council."

"Exactly what I hoped to hear, but Kabuto is a different matter, we can't let him leave."

"I agree, he know too much about Konoha, what do you suggest?"

"Hiashi-sama, I am not the one in the council, I am just a jounin who has his thoughts." Anre smiled under his mask, at Hiashi who was now deep in thought.

Soon the girls stopped and noticed they were being watched, both greeted the guest, even Hanabi, who now respected those who got a permission to easily enter their house. Her father explained why Anre was respected by him.

The council had yet another meeting. They discussed the possibility of peace with sound and came to a decition, which Kabuto was called to hear.

"Kabuto-san." Tsunade started. "The council came to a decition that the piece between out two villages is possible. But, there are a few conditions."

"And those are?"

"First, your borders should be opened for trade, this we think is mutually benefitial."

Kabuto nodded in agreement.

"Second, we want the sound to always have an ambassador in our village."

"I see, it is common for a village to have a representative in other villages." Kabuto replied.

"And finally, Hiashi-sama made a suggestion, that you should be this ambassador, due to your knowledge of this village."

The last part was a surprise for Kabuto, but after a few seconds he nodded.

"This is acceptable, but I will need all of this in written form, for my comrades to take back to the village."

Tsunade nodded, and motioned to the secretary.


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter 24. A blow to Akatsuki.

"Rakizi Anre, Yuhi Kurenai, Hatake Kakashi I called you three here for an S ranked mission."

The trio in front didn't fase, though an S-rank mission did mean a serious threat.

"What is the mission?" Kakashi asked.

"Assasination, your target is an Akatsuki member, Sasori of the red sand." Kakashi's visible eye widened.

"Details?"

"Thanks to our new relationship with the sound, we were provided with information on Akatsuki. Kabuto served as a spy for them against Orochimaru, there is supposed to be a meeting soon, so Kabuto will go with you, since he is a medic he will also provided medical support."

"What do we know about Sasori, teckniques, style, weaknesses."

"From a file we got from the sound, it seems that Sasori is a puppet user, he invented many of them before his departure from Suna. There is little info on his current ability levels, no info on his puppets, no info on his other teckniques."

"But there has to be something we could tell." Kurenai mentioned.

Anre looked up. "The puppets are used by people with little chakra and great control. They use puppets to do the fighting, but the puppet is not a living being, so it can't do any jutsus. The puppet masters often rely on hidden compartments with weapons, traps and poisons to boost their lethality."

"In other words, a scratch means getting poisoned." Kakashi concluded.

"Yes, and I think that Sasori isn't an S-rank missing nin for nothing, his skills must be great, most likely he is an expert in poisons."

"Yes, most likely, afterall his grandmother Chiyo of the sand is a poisons expert." Tsunade said.

"How do you know that Hokage-sama?"

"Ummm, during the sand/leaf confrontation many years ago I created antidotes to the poisons that she made, it was no easy task I might add."

"Then lets hope that Kabuto is good at creating antidotes aswell, or we might not return." Kakashi said grimly.

Two days later the group vame to a small bridge over the canyin, not far from the fire country borders.

"This is the place, we usually meet on the bridge." Kabuto said.

"I see, an open space, to check if you are alone." Kakashi mentioned putting away the small orange book followed by a death glare from Kurenai, who mumbled "pervert."

"Fine, lets get prepared, we should still have several hours before the meeting. Kabuto, remember, when the fight starts get away, we will most likely need medical attention."

Kakashi went looking for the place to effectively hide. Kurenai used a complex genjutsu, while Anre climbed under the bridge and sank into the shadows. Soon the only person left was Kabuto, as he had to meet Sasori on the bridge, not to make the target suspicious.

Three hours later a figure emerged from the woods and went towards the bridge. The figure was wearing a black cloak decorated with red clouds. The person's body looked strange, as he seemed like a very old man with a badly crooked back, though it was hard to tell as the body remained hidden under the cloak. The face was hidden behind the mask, leaving only cold, emotionless eyes visible. Soon he approached Kabuto.

"You didn't make me wait, good, I hate waiting." The voice could make someone die from a heart attack.

Kabuto smirked and suddenly jumped away. 'Now!"

"What!?" Sasori turned and saw Kakashi charging at him, gouing through some complex hand seals.

"Earth element. Death pillar no justu." He cried, as a huge stone pillar shot out of the side of the canyon, aimig directly at Sasori. Suddenly a huge, scorpion like tail shot from under the cloak, destroying the pillar. In the same time two chains shot out also and wrapped around Kakashi's legs, who barely managed to do a substitution to avoid losing his lower limbs, he only had some minor cuts. As he appeared on the solid ground, he quikly became blurry and disappeared, being hid by Kurenai's genjutsu.

Sasori went forward, but suddenly leaped aside as a demon shuriken broke through the wooden bridge. Then another one, making Sasori jump even farther. The shuriken then changed direction and went forward to the surprised Sasori.

"Ninja wire, clever." He hissed, as the shuriken wrapped the wire around his tail. The next second an electrical pulse went through the wire and the through the tail, but to everyone's surprise Sasori wasn't electrocuted.

"How? Kakashi mumbled. Sasori only laughed maniacally.

"You haven't guessed yet, haven't you…" his tirade was stopped when a huge cone of fire broke through the bridge and went towards Sasori. The akatsuki member placed his tail in front of him, as huge metal plates emerged from the side, creating a shield. The fire didn't do any damage to him, but he noticed, that the fire made the metal nearly melt in a couple of places. Before he could remove the shield Kakashi jumped forward, his hand blazing with lightning, his forehead protector raised, revealing the sharingan.

"RAIKIRI!" Kakashi slashed through the tail, cutting it off near the base. Several kunai that were launched at him after that were deflected be a handful of shuriken coming from under the remains of the bridge, followed by Anre.

Kakashi landed and rolled over. He then noticed that his vision was getting blurry.

"What? When?" he then remembered the cuts on his legs, and the next second passed out, immediately carried away from the battle by Kabuto.

Sasori was now concentrated on Anre, until vines wrapped around him and pressed him against a tree trunk that suddenly appeared from the ground. Then Kurenai emerged from the tree trunk and slit Sasori's throat under the mask. To her surprise, no blood came out and Sasori laughed again. His laughing stopped though, when he saw anre a mere meter away, his hand blazing with a strange jutsu. Kurenai jumped out of the tree.

"SHOKING FIST!"

Before the jutsu collided the side of Sasori's body opened up and a red haired man jumped out. The jutsu in Anre's arm destroyed its target, making Kurenai's genjutsu fade along the way. Anre landed near the remains.

"I see, his body was a puppet, that is why he wasn't affected by electricity, wood doesn't conduct it." He said, looking at a red haired man in front of them.

"You guessed finally." Sasori said, his new voice was not as scary. "I assume you are the boy who broke Kisame's blade." He pointed at Anre. "He was really mad at you for that, you know."

Anre didn't answer, glaring under his hood. Sasori jumped out spinning in the air, raining needles in every direction. Those weren't as big as senbon needles, but small, barely visible ones. Anre created chakra wings and jumped in front of Kurenai, covering them both with the wings. After landing Sasori unrolled two scrolls, unsealing several dozen puppets, chakra strings shot out of his fingers attaching to the puppets, making them come to live. Anre took a deep breath and breathed out fire again, burning several puppets, but others along with Sasori jumped away. Kurenai did several hands seals and jumped out from behind Anre's wings.

"BLINDING LIGHT." She said, performing a genjutsu that made her bright as the sun for the enemy. But Sasori wasn't fazed by it, the next second a shocked Kurenai recieved several needles in her chest. A minute later she dropped.

"So, it looks like it is only you and me now" Sasori said pointing at Anre, who finally pulled out his sword. Anre, with his wings active went slicing through the puppets, his wings shielding him from the rain of projectails. He made his way towards a rather surprised Sasori, but before Anre struck at him Sasori's right hand divided into two pieces and a blade shot towards an airbone Anre. Suddenly Anre's eyes began to glow puprple and the blade stopped inches away from hitting the chest. In the next two secods Anre landed and thrust his sword through Sasori's chest. Purple fading from his eyes and the world starting to move again. Sasori's blade only hit air, then he noticed a blade in his chest and a very tired Anre.

"How?" he asked, not affected by pain, blood not coming out of the wound. Cracks appeared around the place the sword enereed the body, revealing that it was yet another puppet. Anre closed his eyes and concentrated. Sasori swung his hand again, now there appeared a flamethrower, but when the fire hit Anre, he turned to water.

"A clone? When?" Sasori turned around, the sword still in his chest, feeling the presence behind him and saw Anre Charging at him with his blade drawn. Sasori spun around and his puppet got a limb with the flamethrower cleanly cut off. That didn'r fase Sasori, as the puppet breathed out purple smoke straight at Anre. The young jounin jumped away and the smoke soon was carried away by the wind.

"hmmm, it seems I will be forced to use them. Do you know what measures the power of the puppet master?"

Anre shook his head, but kept his guard.

"The amount of puppets one can use at the same time. My grandmother, Chiyo was the greatest for a long time. She could control ten puppets at once, one for each finger, it is rumored that they once taken down a whole fortress. But as I said, she WAS the greatest. I surpassed her. So, meet my puppet army!" Sasori unwrapped a scroll and opened a small compartment on his chest. In a puff of smoke the area was filled with hundreds of identical looking puppets, each attached to a charka string that came ut of Sasori's chest.

"Impressive, isn't it. You may feel honored, few saw them, none lived to tell."

As one the puupets charged, and they were fast. Anre slowly put his sword on his back.

"You know, I haven't shown all of my abilities aswell." Anre looked up, his eyes glowing purple. Instantly he formed his dragon features. And took a deep breath.

Sasori took a step back when he saw that a dozen of his puppets was reduced to ashes b a figure that now was going through the ranks of his cretions leaving an afterimage and sliced up parts of puppets. The figure jumped towards Sasori who summoned several puppets with metal shields. The charka claws pierced them, but Anre was still stopped and was forced to ju,p away, avoiding the group of other puppets.

"WATER ELEMENT: WATER HYDRA NO JUTSU. BEAST OF THE POSEIDON!"

The ground began shaking violently as from the canyon a giant seven headed hydra raised. Sasori's eyes widened. The hydra's heads crashed into the wall of the canyon, creating a rockslide. That took Anre, Sasori and the puppet army to fall down to the buttom of the canyon. In mid air Anre's charka features faded and he pulled out a scroll. He looked at Sasori and his eyes flashed a brighter purple. In a flash everything stopped. The rocks, puppets, Sasori, wind, air, water …. Time. Only Anre remained the same as he targeted a now frozen in mid air Sasori.

"POWER WORD ART: POWER WORD – BLEED."

The mext moment the flow of time continued, but the jutsu was completed. One and a half second of time was all Anre needed.

The expression on the puppets face changed, as it clutched it's side, after falling atop of other puppets and pieces of rock. Suddenly a fountain of blood came out of the puppets chest, where a strange symbol was engraved. Anre already dropped to his knees, the jutsu as always tired him greatly.

"_So, that's where you are_." Anre pulled out one of his daggers, attached the metal wire to it and threw it into Sasori. The dagger hit the place where blood was coming from. An electrical pulse shot through the wire and then through the dagger. The puppet twisted for a second and then went silent.

Anre slowly stood up and looked up from the bottom of the canyon. He saw Kabuto already working on Kurenai, his hands glowing green. Anre approached the body and pulled his sword and dagger out. The side of the puppet cracked open and several burned organs rolled out of a cylindric container they were contained in.

"_So that is all that was left of the great Sasori, a puppet master became a puppet himself, ironic. No wonder he wasn't affected by Kurebai's blinding jutsu_." He thought, sealing the remains in a storage scroll. He also took a ring that was on puppets finger. Then he climbed up and approached Kabuto.

"How is Kurenai and Kakashi?"

"Kakashi will be fine, the chains he was hit by were only coated in a powerful sleeping drug. Sasori must have used them to capture his enemyes alive. Now Kurenai is a different story. The needles were coated in a very lethal poison. It is already deep in her system. I can't create the antidote out here, we need to get her to Konoha as soon as possible."

Anre nodded "Got a soldier pill? I am almost out of chakra."

Kabuto silently threw him one. As Anre regained some of his Chakra he rolled up his sleeve and used his tattoo to summon a house sized dragon.

"Greetings summoner, I honor the contract." The dragon gave a bow.

"Thanks, we need a lift, our friends are hurt."

"Get on."

Anre nodded and took Kurenai to the dragons back, while Kabuto went for Kakashi after throwing a surprised glance at the great serpent.


	25. Chapter 25

Chapter 25. Elder of the sand.

Shizune burst into hokage's office.

"Tsunade-sama, the team after Sasori came back."

"Report!"

"It seems it was a sucsess, but Yuhi Kurenai is gravely injured, your presence is required." Tsunede jumped out of the window and sped up toward the hospital.

When she got there she was immediately led to Kurenai. Kabuto, Hinata , Ino and Haku were doing their best to stop the poison. Kabuto was trying to prepare the antidote, but the poison proved too complicated.

"Shizune, prepare to remove the poison manually, I will take care of the antidote, and where are Sakura and Tenten?" Tsunade asked not raising her eyes from the medical cart given by Kabuto.

"I sent Sakura to check on Anre and Tenten to check on Kakashi, they also didn't look to well." Tsunade nodded and Shizune began giving out orders to the girls.

"Hokage-sama, may I go now, I used almost all of my chakra keeping Kurenai-san alive, and I can not create the antidote, poisons aren't my strongest spot." Kabuto adjusted the glasses again.

"Certanly, your payment will be transferred and I will make sure to send your part of the bounty for Sasori to the Sound, once the Sand village pays us."

Kabuto nodded and walked out.

Anre patiently sat on the chair letting Sakura do the diagnostic. She moved her glowing hands over the body. Finally she stopped.

"Ok, it seems that you have no injuries."

"That's good."

"But you are exausted, and are nearly out of chakra, the aftereffects of sholdier pill are most likely kicking in."

"Yeah, I feel my musceles screaming."

"When we get home I expect you to rest, no training for a while."

Anre didn't argue, not that it would work.

"As you say, doctor, you are the boss."

"Damn right I am."

"Until we get home."

"You just keep talking, or I will use my chakra scalpel to cut you up and insist to become your personal nurse."

"Sakura, that's cruel."

"Yep, no hold still and let me finish."

"Greetings, you must be the ones the Sand sent to confirm the death of Sasori." Said Baki, greeting elder Chiyo from the sand and her two jounin escorts. The sand siblings were also here.

The sand respresentatives nodded and handed their travel papers. Baki knew who they were, but being in servive of Konoha right now he still accepted them and looked through.

"Everything is in order, please proceed."

"Are we heading to Hokages tower right away?" one of Chiyo's guards asked.

"No." was a simple reply from Gaara.

"Then where?"

"We are going to the mourge, Hokage is waiting there." Gaara said in his usual voice, though it didn't avoid the sand shinobi eyes that Gaara lost the rings under his eyes and he wasn't constantly radiating killer intent, just the opposite, he looked peaceful.

Soon the group came to the hospital, where Baki and the sand siblings parted ways with Chiyo and her men, as from there they were led by Shizune.

"Excuse me for asking, are you Sasori's grandmother." Shizune asked the elder.

"I am, what of it?"

"Well, it might be hard for you to undentify Sasori."

"I might be old girl, but I am a ninja and have seen many deaths, including the deaths of those dear to me." Chiyo remembered the pain, when she was told that her son was killed by the white fang of Konoha.

"It is not what I meant, it is just not much of his body is left."

"So, your ninjas did quite a number on him."

"Not exactly, elder Chiyo, you will see what I mean soon enough."

They entered the mourge where they were greeted by Tsunade.

"Welcome, elder Chiyo." Tsunade smiled.

"Hey there slug princess, I see you haven't changed. Lets just hope you can still create the antidote to my poisons." The old lady chuckled.

"lets hope that we will never have to find out, though the poison that was created by your grandson proved a hard nut to crack, one of our joinins barely made it out alive."

"Even being a traitor he was still my blood, may I see him?" Chiyo's face turned sad.

"Certanly, though there is not much to look at." Tsunade raised the blanket that was covering the table near her revealing a sickening picture. On the table there were several burned inner organs. One of Chiyo's guard began to look sick.

"That is all that was left?" Chiyo asked.

"That is all there was, these are the only organic part we found, they were held in this puppet." Tsunade raised another blanket revealing a battered human like puppet, with red hair. Chiyo came closer and saw a red scorpion carved on it.

"This is indeed his puppet and it resembles him, almost life like." Chiyo said. "You say that those organs were the only things inside?" Tsunade nodded.

"hmm, he was always a genious, but this, replacing his original body with a puppet, ingenious, yet sickening and terrifying."

"So you confirm his identity."

"Yes, will we be able to take the body, or what ever you have here?"

"Certanly, after we do the needed paperwork. The puppets and weapons are also yours to take. We had Kankoruo study them if you need it. Also I will give the sample of Sasori's poison and the antidote to it."

Chiyo nodded. "How was he beaten?"

"Perhaps it would be best if you talked to the one who killed him, Shizune, send for Anre, he should be here in the hospital, visiting Kurenai along with Sakura, Hinata and Naruto."

"Yes, Tsunade-sama." Shizune bowed and left. Several minutes later she was back with Anre, as usual, was fully armed.

"Elder Chiyo, allow me to introduce Rakizi Anre."

Chiyo's eyes widened. "You can't be serious that he killed Sasori, he is no older than 15."

Anre only looked at the elder lady from under his hood. "He proved to be a very powerful foe, being almost completely a puppet rendered most of our jutsu useless."

"Then how?"

"I have a jutsu that gives a direct order to the mind, provided the target has one. Since there has to be one to control the puppet and create chakra, I only had to find the place where it was located. So I gave him an order to bleed."

Chiyo's eyes widened. "Incredible."

"Perhaps, but it is very chakra draining, so I risked a lot, I barely had enough strength to finish him off. Especially considering the fact that I stopped the time flow for 1 and a half seconds to avoid being hit."

"How is that possible?"

"Very possible, but I am not here to reveal my secrets, with all respect Chiyo-sama."

"I understand." Chiyo nodded.

"May I ask a question?"

Chiyo looked up. "Yes."

"How did he end up like this, people do not turn themselves into puppets for no reason."

"It is hard, but I guess you deserve to know." Chiyo motioned her escorts to step out.

"His parents were killed, by a ninja from Konoha, the one called the white fang. It was a hard time, not surprisingly people died, but for Sasori his parents were his life. When they were gone, his life left aswell. He hated the world that took his happiness away, desire to take vengeance on every living thing filled him. I suppose there was nothing that kept him from doing this to himself, he already was a heartless puppet."

Silence rose in the cold room. Minutes later Anre spoke up. "What puzzles me elder Chiyo, is that the villages don't take lessons from mistakes. The pain caused a great ninja to hate the world. You nearly did the same to another, I suppose you met the one I am refering to today. Sad."

"Anre, that is enough." Tsunade fumed. "You are free to leave."

Anre shrugged and left the room.

"I am sorry elder Chiyo, he ment no disrespect."

Suddenly a tear fell from the old woman's eyes.

"I know, but the worst thing is, that he is right, and it wounds. I made too many mistakes in my life, time to pay up." Chiyo looked again at the puppet, so much resembling her grandson when he was still human.

"We will leave in three days if that is alright Tsunade, I am old and need time to rest before going back."

"As you wish, what about the…. Errr…. Body."

"Just seal it up, there is not much of a body." Chiyo sighed and left the room.

"And the puppets?"

"Same there."

"Fine as you wish."

"Hey Gaara, what are you doing here alone?" Naruto asked when he saw the sand user walking down the street. Naruto himself has just left the Huuga estate with Hinata to go eat his favourite food, ramen.

"Walking."

"Oh, and why alone, where are your sister and brother?"

"Temari is training and Kankoruo is working on his puppets with the new ideas he got from studying Sasori's puppets."

"Then how about joining us for ramen, what do you think Hinata." Naruto turned to a girl by his side.

"If you want it then I'd like that too."

Gaara looked a little surprised. "Thank you, I'd love to come, what is ramen by the way?"

Naruto's face turned to an expression of pure shock and horror.

"Noooo, the horror, he doesn't know what ramen is, c'mon Hinata, we have to save him!" with that Naruto grabbed both Hinata and Gaara and sped up towards the Ichiraku's.

Several minutes later they already were at the ramen stand.

"Hey old man, give me one pork ramen please!"

"Certanly, and what would you like Hinata?"

"I'll have a chiken ramen please."

"And your friend?"

Gaara shrugged. "I have never had ramen before." Teuchi dropped his notebook.

"just give him beef for start, old man." Naruto ordered for the sand user, driving Teuchi out of stupor.

"Ok, coming right up." Soon there was a steaming bowl in front of everyone. Gaara carefully picked up a bunch of noodles and drank some soup. His eyes widened.

"So?" Naruto grinned, Hinata also looked curious.

"Ramen….good….tasty." Gaara could only say as he dug into his bowl, finishing it in several seconds and asking for seconds.

Half an hour later Teuchi was rubbing his arms as he saw that he now had another great customer. Gaara ate only one bowl less than Naruto, who stopped at eight. Hinata as usually only managed two, wondering, where did Naruto and now Gaara put all that ramen.

"So, Naruto, how is it living with a clan?" asked a stuffed Gaara.

"Oh, it is nice." Naruto shrugged. "The estate is huge, heck, my room is bigger than my old apartment. They are very traditional, but that doesn't bother me and they have great training grounds, even Anre and Sakura sometimes come to train with us. There is only one thing that bothers me." Naruto hung his head. Hinata suddenly tenced.

"And what is that?" asked a curious Gaara.

Naruto raised hs head showing two rivers of tears pouring from his eyes. "They don't have ramen there."

"That's horrible!" Gaara was now also crying, tears streaming.

"What's the matter boys?" Teuchi asked noticing the tears.

"They are just sad because there is no ramen at the Huuga estate.

"What, how could anyone be so cruel?!" Now an old man joined the two boys, causing Hinata to drop anime style. Shukaku inside Gaara for once looked really discusted, and coming from an insane demon that was something.

"ok, Gaara, thank for the company, but we should really be going back." Hinata dragged Naruto away, while Gaara turned to Teuchi asking for another bowl. The whole scene was watched by an elder woman standing on the roof of nearby building.

"_I can't believe he changed so much, he looks and acts so differently, so normaly, he looks happy_." Thought Chiyo as she observed Gaara.

Hinata was getting really tired, popping the rubber ball proved a lot more difficult the popping a balloon filled with water. She took a small break and glanced at Naruto, who was trying to cut a small stream of water with his wind chakra.

"So, how is the progress?" they both heard a voice from behind and saw Hiashi.

"Slow." Admitted the heiress.

"Slow?" Naruto looked surprised. "You completed the first step in half an hour, it took me a whole week, though I completed the second in two days."

"Naruto, I just have the byakugan, I knew exactly what you did with chakra, but here I need force."

"What are you trying to do Hinata?" Hiashi asked looking at the rubber ball.

"I am trying to pop it using my chakra."

"May I try?"

"Ofcource father, but maybe you should watch Naruto do it to see how the chakra should be moved."

"Very well."

Hinata gave the ball to the grinning Naruto, who grabbed it. Hiashi observed with his byakugan how the spinning chakra caused the ball to shred to pieces.

"Impressive, Hinata, give me the ball, I think I understand what you do."

Hinata took the ball from a bag that was next to her and handed it to her father. Hiashi observed the ball for a second and attempted to pop it. He made chakra rotate inside it, that was easy for the Huuga with their chakra control, but to his surprise the ball didn't even move, when as Hinata's sturred violently. Hiashi tried harder, but barely made the ball move.

"Strange, what am I doing wrong?"

"Wrong what?"

Everyone turned around and saw Anre and Sakura. They weren't surprised as Anre and Sakura often came to train at the Huuga clan ground, taking the advantage of having full acsess. The surprise was that Sakura had a bow strapped over her back. Naruto greeted them, but remembered that he had his own exercise to do, so he returned to it, but still listened to the conversation.

"Umm, me and Hinata here are trying to figure out how to do the second stage of the rasengan."

"And what is the problem?"

"We need to pop this rubber ball. We both move chakra correctly, but there is little sucsess, I must admit that Hinata even does better than me." Hiashi explained making Hinata blush as she wasn't very used to being praised.

"Then why don't you observe you doing it together, maybe if you see what you do differently you will see the problem." Sakura suggested.

Hiashi thought for a second and nodded. The next second he and Hinata attempted the exercise once again. Hiashi carefully observed with his byakugan. A couple of minutes later they stopped.

"I see, it seems Hinata unwillingly uses more chakra then I do."

"So you mean you lack power to do it, not control."

Hiashi nodded.

"How long has Hinata been trying this." Anre asked.

"Umm four days already."

"I see, so that is why I felt your chakra signature change, it seems more powerful."

"What do yo want to say Anre." Hiashi looked surprised at his daughter.

"Hinata, what was the first stage?"

"Bursting a balloon filled with water in a similar maner."

Anre thought for a moment and then smiled.

"The fourth hokage was truly a genious, if he invented the exercise like these."

"huh?" Hiashi, Hinata, Sakura and Naruto said in unison.

"Naruto, you have work to do." Hiashi pointed to Naruto who immediately began working on using his wind chakra. Hiashi then turned to Anre. "Please explain what you mean."

"It is simple really. The first exercise needs good chakra control, while the second needs a good amount of chakra to perform. So until you master the first it is meaningless to start the second, and without the second the rasengan will be too weak."

"So, in general it is a chakra capacity growing exercise."

"More or less, my guess is that Hinata will have to try it until her reserves will grow large enough to do it, there is no other way."

That explains why Naruto had more problems with the first stage. He has immence chakra pool, so his problem was control." Hiashi rubbed his chin. "It also explains why you claim her signature became stronger." Hiashi then activated his byakugan and carefully looked at Hinata.

"You are correct, her chakra coils have become bigger, no doubt because of a larger chakra flow, amazing."

"So the only thing to do is practice practice and practice." Concluded Hinata.

"Indeed, but first I want you to do one more thing Hinata."

"What is it father?"

"Nothing much, just perform a simple juuken palm strike on the practice dummy."

Hinata looked surprised by such a simple request but obeyed. She came up to the dummy and thrust her palm forward, to her surprise her strike tore a piece of wood out of the dummy's chest. Hiashi looked no less surprised than Hinata, while Naruto made a promise to himself to never ever make Hinata angry.

"Hinata, how much chakra did you pump in that strike?" Hiashi swallowed a lump that formed in his throat.

"I-I t-tried the usual, as I was taught, around 1% of my capacity."

Anre chuckled "I imagine what her strikes will do when she will finally pop the balloon."

Hiashi nodded dumbly as he knew that he himself would have to use quite an amount to cause that much damage.

"That is very impressive, I might consider to make this exercise obligatory for every Huuga, it might make our style more powerful."

Anre shrugged. "Do what you want, it is your clan style I can only give an advise, in the mean time, do you have any target which Sakura could use to practice her bow."

"Ummm, there is a practice range we use for kunai and shuriken training." Hinata said.

"It will do." Sakura said and went where Hinata was pointing.

"Where did she get such a bow?" Naruto asked breaking from his exercise again, but immediately went back after meeting with Hiashi's eyes.

"I gave it to her. I had it for a long time, but it didn't go well with my fighting style so I never used it. I use lightning based ranged attacks with shuriken, because being made of metal they conduct electricity. Wooden arrows do not."

"I see, but why use a bow?"

"Simple, as a medical ninja she has to stay out of trouble. For instance, if Kabuto would have jouined the battle with Sasori and got hurt Kurenai wouldn't have survived. With a bow Sakura will be able to stay out of trouble, yet being able to support her team. Using her ability to use substitution without any seals she can constantly change her position, not to mention an arrow from a composite bow flyes faster than any kunai or shuriken, being a lot harder to dodge or deflect."

"Impressive."

Anre nodded and went on his usual routine of working on yet another scroll.


	26. Chapter 26

Author note: The lack of reviews disappoints me really. ((((

As I said before, critics is welcome if it is constructive.

Chapter 26 Again to the wave.

"I am going to kill him!" Kiba punched the wall as he and his team were waiting for Kakashi at the city gates for already two hours.

"Relax Kiba, he is alwayst late, get used to it." Sasuke said calmly. Kiba in his opinion was even louder than Naruto ever was.

"Dammit, why did they have to put him as our new jounin instructor."

"Kiba, just calm down, I miss Kurenai-sensei too, but Kakashi-sensei teaches us a lot too, besides he is a great ninjutsu user while none of us are very good at genjutsu, like Kurenai-sensei." Hinata said, sitting down near the wall that now had a small crack after Kiba's punch.

"I know, but I still hate it, told us we were going to get a C-rank mission, and where is he?"

"Woof." Akamaru barked agreeing with his master.

"Talking about me?" came a lazy voice from behind Kiba.

"You are late!"

"Woof!"

"Ohh, really, I didn't notice, you see I had to help an old lady and…"

"Liar!"

"Woof."

"Sorry Kiba, was I that late?" Kakashi asked innocently, making Kiba facefault.

"What's the mission sensei?" Sasuke still had his hands croseed on his chest being amused looking at Kiba. Hinata also covered her mouth to hide the giggle.

"Oh mission, right, well Sasuke you are going to like it, we are going to visit our friends at the land of waves."

"What's wrong this time?"

"They have bandit problems, probably the remains of Gato's band. We are also going to get the payment for out previous mission."

"You mean when you defended the bridge builder?" Hinata mentioned.

"Yeah, how did you know?"

"Naruto." Was a simple reply.

"Oh right, I should of know he would of told you all about his first A-rank."

"Ok. Ok. Can we get going already?" Kiba cried.

"Umm, sure, lets go team."

"Whoah, big bridge." Kiba looked amazed at the size of the bridge before him. People and carriges were crossing it both ways."

"Well, Tazuna did say he was a great bridge builder." Kakashi scratched his head.

"What is written on the sign?" hinata pointed at the sign that was placed close to the entrance to the bridge.

Sasuke looked closer and read. "THE GREAT SHINOBI BRIDGE. Named after a brave team of Konoha shinobi that helped this country find it's strength."

"You don't mean that…" Kiba started.

"I think it does." Kakashi finished. "Fine let's go to Tazunas place."

"WHAT DID YOU DO HERE TO GET THAT FREAKING BRIDGE NAMED AFTER YOURSELVES!!"

"WOOF!"

"You said something Kiba?" Kakashi turned around picking his ear with his pinky.

Kiba fell face down on the ground and mumbled: "I really, really hate this guy."

"Kiba, I think we will tell you the full story when we get to Tazuna's house, he is a man who built this bridge, or atleast that is what Naruto told me." Hinata mentioned.

"Ok, but I am really curious."

'Woof."

"Father, please get the door."

"Arghhh, fine, can't an old man get any rest around here." Tazuna stood up from a sofa and went to open the door.

"Coming, who is it….. Kakashi?"

"Yo." Kakashi smiled under his mask and raised his hand.

"Good to see you! Hey Sasuke and …. Who are those two?" he pointed at Kiba and Hinata.

"Ahh, yes, allow me to introduce two new members of my team. Huuga Hinata and Inuzuka Kiba with his partner Akamaru."

"New members, you don't mean that the others…." Tazuna looked scared.

"No, no, they just got promoted and are no longer members of the genin team, since they are no longer… well genin."

"Oh, if that's the case then congratulate them when you get back. Now come in, I'll go tell Tsunami to preapare the dinner whle you settle in, you know where the rooms are."

"No we don't." Kiba said.

"Oh, right, but Sasuke and Kakashi do, so they'll tell you."

"Lets go Kiba." Kakashi said walking up the stairs.

The ninjas and Tazunas family sat down for dinner.

"So, a lot have changed I heard." Said Tsunami.

"Yes, a lot." Sasuke smirked getting a taste of the steamed fish.

"Wow Sasuke, you show emotion, that's progress." Inari laughed, to his surprise Sasuke smiled softly.

"Yeah, as you said a lot have changed, that includes me."

"And how did that happen." Tsunami asked. But then noticed that Sasuke's face became sad. He lowered his head.

"It is a long story and I don't want to talk about it."

"Heck, I wouldn't too, as I remember I ended up with a kunai in my side." Kiba said and then got a smack on the head from Hinata who stared at him with the same look as when he insulted Naruto in the hot springs. The temperature in the room immediately lowered by several degrees.

"Umm, sorry Hinata I shouldn't have said that." Kiba gulped.

"Oh, no worryes, just don't do that again."

"And here I thought she looked so innocent looking and shy." Tazuna whispered to Kakashi.

"Well she was, but I guess Naruto helps people change." Kakashi answered in a similar whisper.

"Naruto? so they are friends?"

"They are betrothed."

Tazuna's eyes widened as he choked on the fishbone, though he was saved by a merciful slap on the back from Kakashi.

"Betrothed?" he cried "What else is new?"

Kakashi shrugged: "Anre and Sakura are also betrothed."

Tazuna felt into a camatozic state for several minutes, until he stood up and walked away saying "I need to stop drinking so much."

The next morning Kakashi approached Tazuna, while his team was doing the morning training.

"What is the mission you called us for, it is time we begin."

"Oh, sure, sure. You see our merchants are often attaked and robbed near the bridge. Some of the people recognized the thugs that were working for Gato. We have our own police force now and wouldn't have called you unless we could have dealt with them ourselves. The problem is, we can't trail them and their attaks are too unpredictable, so we called you."

Kakashi rubbed his chin, thinking. "Either those thugs are smart, which is not likely, or they have ninja support."

"Ninjas, but none were sighted."

"Remaining unseen is something Ninja should be good at."

"So this is not a C-rank again?"

"Afraid not."

"Oh, why me?" Tazuna slapped his face. "Which rank is it?"

"B to A compared of the skill of the ninjas we are facing."

"I see. Well don't worry, we are more than able to afford it."

"Ok, for now we will work with my team to locate the enemy, shouldn't be too hard considering that Hinata and Kiba were both members of a tracker and scouting team. I will send a word for reinforcements they should be here by the time we are ready."

"Reinforcements? The last time you didn't send for any."

"Well, we had Anre and it still ended in a mess, I'd rather not risk it."

"good point. Well you do what you must, I'll go arrange for your future payment."

"Ok, and please tell Tsunami to prepare place for more people. I think Hokage-sama will send another team this time, chunin and joinin ranked."

"I'll tell her, though I have no idea where she will put you all."

"Don't bother, we can live with inconvenience, we just need space to lay or sit down."

"Ok, as you wish."

"Can you pick up the trail?" Kakashi asked Kiba as they came to the place of the recent attack. You could see some blood on the ground and there also was a turned over cart.

"Yes I can, about twenty thousand of them, this is the road for crying out loud, people walk on it."

"Temper, temper, Kiba, can you find the trails that lead away from the road. Tazuna said there were 20 to 30 attackers so look for that amount."

Kiba and Akamaru began sniffing around. Sasuke and Hinata actually looked rather disturbed to see Kiba on all fours sniffing the ground, but were forced to endure the picture until they heard a bark from Akamaru.

"What is it Kiba?"

"Akamaru picked up a trail left by a couple of dozen people leading off the road."

"Which way?"

"South west, towards the town docks."

"Understood, Hinata, scan the terrain that way, use your maximum byakugan distance."

Hinata nodded and activated her bloodlimit. Several minutes later she turned it off.

"There is an old storage house there. It has a complex genjtsu over it even my byakugan can't pierce. It makes the building look abandoned. If we get closer I perhaps could see through as the byakugan pierces genjutsu better at closer range.""

Kakashi nodded. "Lets go and have a look, shall we."

"That is their hideout, it is a dump, ain't I right Akamaru."

"Woof."

"It's a genjutsu idiot." Sasuke smirked.

"Oh, right, I remember that." Kiba scratched his head.

"Man, you are worse that Naruto, and that's saying something." Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"What did yo…….!" Kiba couldn't finish as he now had Kakashi's hand over his mouth.

"Quiet Kiba. Hinata, can you pierce the genjutsu?"

"Yes, but it is very strong, chunin level tecknique easy. It uses seals to stay up."

"Can you see how many people are inside?"

"Yes, The building has three floors and there are about 50 normal thugs. But there are three figures that have very well developed chakra ways. You were right sensei, there are ninjas here."

"Can you tell anything specific about them?" Sasuke asked.

"No, not from this distance, once I try to zoom in my byakugan loses the ability to pierce the genjutsu, meaning we are at the edge of my piercing radius for this illusion. The only thing I can tell is that they are women."

"Oh great, now we will have to fight girls." Kiba frowned.

"Do not underestimate them, Kiba, they might be strong foes. For now, Hinata tell us how the guards are moving. We might need their moving patern once the reinforcements get here."

"Ok, I'll tell you everything."

"A plan of the building could be useful." Sasuke remarked.

"Good thinking. Hinata, you and Sasuke draw the plan and the guards patrol routes, me and Kiba will be on the look out."

With that Kakashi motioned Kiba to follow and left.

"Hmm, great work guys." Kakashi said as he observed the blueprint of the building and the guards patrol routes and posts as they walked back to Tazunas place.

"Thank you sensei." Hinata blushed, but just a little.

"Any idea when help will get here?" Sasuke asked.

"Hmm, well judging by the fact that they would hurry here, and knowing the distance from Konoha I'd say we meet them right about …. now."

As Kakashi finished talking he suddenly stopped causing Kiba to bump into him. The next second a four man team appeared in front of them jumping down from a nearby tree. One of the figures was dressed in black, another had pink hair and a bow, the third had sunglasses and was dressed in a long coat with a hood and the last one had blonde hair and whisker marks.

"You called for help?" Anre asked raising his hand.

"Have no fear the future hokage is here." Naruto proclaimed and received at bump on a head from Sakura, but not that violent when they were just genin. She just made her point to shut him up.

"Ouch. Hey Hinata!" Naruto went to his fiancée.

"Why of all people they sent you!" Kiba yelled pointing at Naruto.

"Because he is part of my team Kiba." Anre proclaimed

"Your team?"

"Tsunade-sama while you were away decided to create stable four man groups for missions outside Konoha. She says that this way we will get better teamwork and better performance. Also this is a way to get medical ninjas available to most groups. Our group is first and experimental and this is our first mission. We also each have our own special role in the team, for instance I am our medic." Sakura explained.

It took several minutes for information to sink in. Only Kakashi remained unfased.

"So, what are the other roles?" Sasuke asked.

"Oh, well Anre is our overall leader, Shino is our scout and intellience gatherer and as I said I am a medic and…"

"And Naruto is the teams clown." Kiba finished and received a death glare from Hinata and some killer intent from both her and Naruto.

"Kiba, do not insult my team please." Anre said calmly in a voice that sent shivers down his spine. "Naruto is our main firepower. His ability to regenerate helps in combat along with enchanted senses and reflexes, not to mention that with his shadow clones he is practically a one man army."

"Ok, I get it." Kiba said

"What is the situation here?" Anre asked, converting conversation to the point of their mission.

""Lots of thugs with a help of ninjas have been causing lots of trouble. We have located their hideout and made the scouting."

"Good, then lets get to Tazuna's place and discuss the plan."

"Tazuna, open up, we are back." Kakashi knocked on the door.

Instead of Tazuna the door was opened by Tsunami.

"Hello there, oh, is that who I think it is?" She gasped as she noticed Anre, Sakura and Naruto.

"Hello Tsunami, great to see you again, where is the old drunkard and the brat?" Naruto smiled.

"Naruto? You've changed, come to think of it all of you have."

"Really, how come?" Sakura asked.

"Well, you have gotten taller, especially Naruto, he is now the same height as you Sakura." Sakura turned to Naruto and was surprised to see That Tsunami was indeed right.

"I guess I haven't noticed."

"My, why are we talking here in the door, come in, settle in."

"So Tsunami as I asked, where is Tazuna and Inari."

"Father in town and Inari is playing somewhere with his friends. And you mind introducing me to your new friend?"

"Oh, this Aburame Shino, our teams scout."

"Pleased to meet you." Tsunami smiled, earning a nod from Shino.

"He is not very talkative, but is nice." Sakura whispered to Tsunami.

"Sakura, give me your backpack, I'll take it upstairs." Anre suggested and was immediately given the backpack, after what he went upstairs with Shino. Naruto was already running down being a bundle of energy as he usually was and grabbed Hinata taking her to the lake. Others began settling behind the dinner table. Sakura decided to help Tsunami in the kitchen she got used to spending some time there while living with Anre. At first he objected saying that he could cook himself, but eventually had to give in, settling for a role of helper when he was around.

"So Sakura, I heard you are betrothed." Tsunami said with a spark in her eyes.

Sakura blushed but nodded "I am, to Anre."

"Congratulations, though I'd never expected you to be with him?"

"Why is that?"

"Well, you seemed to have a crush on Sasuke."

"Oh, that passed long ago.'

"I am not surprised, he seemed rather cold back then, but now he is different, more opened."

"Yeah, he changed after the incident."

"Incident?"

"Sorry, I said too much." Sakura turned away from the woman.

"Oh no, you are not getting off that easy. First Sasuke slips and then becomes as silent as a grave, now you. If you started talking, then finish."

Sakura sighed. "Ok, I guess I should. But swear you don't mention anything, don't show that you know even to my teammates."

"I swear."

Sakura sighed again. "Have you heard of the sound/sand invasion?"

"Certanly, everyone did."

"Well after it Sasuke left the village to join the sound village leader Orochimaru, who was an S-rank missing nin from Konoha."

Tsunami gasped.

"Hokage sent a team after him. Kiba, Naruto and Anre were among the members. They all got badly hurt, especially Anre. He ended up facing Orochimaru himself and nearly died. Help arrieved just in time. The glove he wears over his left hand is a result of that battle, everything else is hidden under the clothes." Sakura rubbed a single tear that left her eye. Tsunami was now silent, her hand still near her mouth.

"In the end Sasuke faced Naruto, but couldn't make himself kill him, so he gave up and was taken back to Konoha. I guess he still feels guilt for what had happened. Anre wasn't the only one to nearly die."

"I am so sorry Sakura, I shouldn't have pushed."

"Oh, no matter, now lets get to the cooking."

Tsunami nodded not wanting to bring sad memories back again.


	27. Chapter 27

Chapter 27 The easy battle turned grim.

"We are here." Kakashi whispered as they all made it to the storage house which the rogues and unknown ninjas were using as a base.

"Ok, lets do it as we planned." Anre answered. When everyone nodded he made a rabbit handseal and sunk into a nearby shadow freaking out Kiba.

"What the…" he began but ended up with Naruto's hand on his mouth.

"Quiet idiot, you want everyone to hear us?" he whispered. Kakashi nodded in agreement and poofed away himself.

Sakura pulled an arrow and aimed for the two figures on the roof.

"Now we wait." She said.

"_Why do I get the night watch uhh I hate those bitches. Who do they think they are bossing us around?_" though a bandit as he used his spear as support. He didn't even notice a figure raising from the shadow behind him. The next second a ninja wire was wrapped around his neck. He struggled to get free but in vain, the wire that was suffocating him and didn't allow to scream and sound the alarm. Anre silently disposed of the guards in this manner around the perimeter. When there were more the one guard he used his daggers to silently slit their throats. In the opposite direction Kakashi did the same, only he mostly snapped necks. The two ninjas did their bloody work fast and silently.

Finally the rest of the group saw a flashing light when Anre used his sword to reflect the moon light. A minute later Kakashi did the same using a kunai.

"It is time." Sasuke whipered.

Immidiately an arrow raised into the sky followed by another one. The two figures on the roof were struck down almost immediately falling down with arrows in their throats. The group silently made their way to the building where they met with Kakashi and Anre.

"Hinata, what is happening inside?" Kakashi asked. The Huuga heiress activated her bloodlimit.

"They are all mostly sleeping, the ninjas are on the second floor."

Then lets begin." Anre pulled out his demon shuriken. Sakura took another arrow, Kiba put Akamaru on the ground and gave him a soldier pill. Sasuke activated his sharingan.

"Ok, remember, I and Kakashi go forward, others stay with our medics, we might need their help later. Naruto you are up."

Naruto grinned and formed the rasengan.

"BOOM!" the wall exploded raising dust around the place of impact.

"Sound the alarm…." The bandit couldn't finish as he was cut in half by a demon shuriken. Another one who barely woke up and was sitting up got his head cut off. The ninjas stormed the building creating chaos around them. Kiba and Hinata mostly knocked the bandits out, while the others didn't hesitate to kill. That continued until three women wearing black skin tight outfits jumped down from the second floor followed by several rogues. They all had long black hair and wore their forehead protectors around their waists, the cloud symbol engraved on them.

"The gorgona sisters." Kakashi whispered.

"Who?" Naruto scratched his head.

"Ahh, Konoha ninjas, as expected, thought there are more of you then we imagined." One of them murmured.

"Who are these babes?" Kiba asked, glaring at the women in skin tight outfits.

"They are cloud ninjas known as the gorgona sisters. Leave it to me and Anre, others deal with the bandits and stay away." Kakashi said.

"So, it seems sisters we will be facing the famous copy cat Kakashi and some brat." Another cloud ninja laughed and then turned to the bandits. "Leave, if you want to live."

The bandits didn't ask and quikly left the building.

"So, shall we begin?" the third hissed.

Anre pulled out his second shuriken while Kakashi pulled up his forehead protector.

"This will be bad." Naruto said. "We need to fall back?"

"What?!" Kiba and Sasuke yelled.

"We will be outclassed here, I might help with my fox form, but we need to stay with our medics or they will be almost undefended."

"Naruto they nor we are defenseles." Kiba yelled.

"He is right Kiba, this battle will be beyond our ability, we will join if needed, now lets fall back." Sakura said putting her bow on her back.

"But.." Kiba tried to object, but shut up when Shino looked at him and turned without saying the word. With out another word they left the building.

"You take out the Cyclops sisters, I will deal with the brat, I want to have some fun."

Other sister nodded, which then attacked Kakashi, one of them using her hair that began growing to enormous length. The third pulled out two rolls of thin chains and lunched them at Anre. The chains had small blades all over them and Anre noticed that they were coated with poison. He dodged them once, then leaped over them as they tried to wrap around his legs. He dodged for over the minute.

"You are good at running away." The clouad ninja smirked.

"And you are blind as it seems." Anre stopped and raised his left hand as if he was holding something.

"You crazy or something?" she said smiling.

Anre only pulled his left hand back and the chains were suddenly pulled to each other.

"Ninja wire?!' said the cloud ninja. And jumped away dropping the chains as an electrical pulse went through the wire and the chains.

"And who is quik at running?"

"So, you dodged and at the same time wrapped my chains with ninja wire, clever."

Anre didn't answer and sent the demon shuriken he was still holding at his opponent. She smirked and went through several handseals.

"Fire element: Flame whip." She formed a whip of flames and lashed it at the oncoming shuriken and sliced it in half, but the two hals turned to water and splashed her. The flame whip continued on his way and struck Anre, but he also desolved to water. She turned around only to see the real Anre and another demon shuriken coming at her now blazing with electricity. Now it was to near to cut, so she jumped into the air.

"Water element: water spear no jutsu." Anre whispered and a huge water spear shot toward the airbone cloud ninja.

"Bastard!" she screamed and lashed the flame whip wrapping it around the metal support beam and pulling herself out of the way. The water spear shot through all three floors of the building.

"How?" she demanded, when did you switch to the clone?!"

"When you concentrated on dropping your chains and jumping away."

"You are better than I thought brat."

She then fromed several hand seals.

"Fire element: "Phoenix fire!" she screamed as a wave of fire stormed toward Anre. It was so big that there wasn't a way to dodge. The fire wave slammed into the wall creating a huge hole in the wall sending crack all over the building.

"HAHA, not even ashes left! bye, bye brat." She laughed.

"WATER ELEMENT: WATER DRAGON NO JUTSU." She suddenly heard and was immediately hit by a water dragon that sent her crashing through the wall behind her landing on the ground outside. The dragon followed but desolved to water showering the ground with water.

The cloud ninja got up and spit out water mixed with blood. She then saw Anre jumping out of the building.

She growled at him and pulled out several kunai, which she tossed at him as he was charging reaching for his sword. Suddenly a net made of ninja wire could be seen in the moon light attached to the kunai. The next secod she sent dozens of small fireballs around preventing Anre from dodging the net or jumping over it. Although he instead sank into the shadow of the building.

"The cloud ninjas eyes widened as her attack passes helplessly, then she felt the presence behind her. She spun around and saw Anre with a stretched arm and his second arm forming a one handed seal.

"water element: water prison no jutsu."

Immidiately the cloud kunoichi was trapped in the sphere of water, from which she glared at Anre.

"You'll pay for this."

"Perhaps. But you should pay attention what you are standing on, the water dragon covered the ground with water." He shrugged and sent an electrical pulse through the sphere knocking her out instantly.

"Get over here." Anre waved to the trees from witch the others were observing the fight.

Soon he was joined by the others.

"Sakura, follow me, Kakashi might need your help. Naruto, Shino, finish the remaining thughs. Others secure the enemy ninja."

After giving the orders Anre sped up towards the building followed by Sakura.

"You killed my sister! Bastard!" Kakashi found himself wrapped in hair and pinned to the wall. His enemy had an expression of pure rage over her face. Another cloud ninja was on the ground with a huge hole in her chest, blood all over the floor. The room had several huge holes in it from an intence fight. Kakashi was beginning to feel the effects of overusing the sharingam kicking in.

"Die!" his enemy hissed forming a pike out of her hair and struck raising a cloud of dust. When it settled Kakashi was nowhere in sight, there was only a puddele on the ground.

"Who dares interfere?" she slowly turned around.

"Seems my water clone did a substitution with Kakashi just in time." Said Anre standing by Kakashi who was crouching on his knee breathing heavily. "You ok Kakashi?" the sharingan user only raised his thumb.

"Ok, we don't have time to play." He said forming his dragon features.

"You freak, what did you do to my sister?" she screamed and lashed forward her hair, which only met Anre's chakra wings. Then he breathed out fire burning it away making the cloud kunoichi scream as if in pain. While she was distracted Sakura immediately used a substitution with a piece of rubble left from a fight and grabbed the enemye's neck, her hands glowing faint blue. The worn out enemy had no strength to dodge and dropped to the ground dead since Sakura severed her jugular vein and spinal column from the inside. After that she immediately rushed to Kakashi and started healing his wounds since he looked battered. Anre was busy sealing the bodyes of the fallen enemyes.

"They were waiting for a Konoha team." Anre said.

"Yes, they just didn't expect us to send for reinforcements, good thing hinata spotted them inside the building."

"Yes, most fortunate, I guess they organized these attacks only to draw attention, hoping us to send a srange, good thing I only knocked out my opponent, we will be able to interrogate her back in Konoha."

"That is not the main problem, ambush like this could be not the only one." Sakura mentioned while being busy healing up Kakashi.

"You are right, we need to send a word to Konoha as soon as possible to call back all the teams sent on similar missions."

"Agreed, lets get back to others." Anre helped kakashi stand up. When they got to the team they saw Naruto and Shino back already. Tracking the bandits down wasn't hard since Shino marked them all with a bug.

"How is Kakashi-sensei?" hinata asked in concern.

Anre didn't answer and pulled his sleeve up revealing his tattoo and summoned a dragon the size of large horse.

"Summoner in honor the contract, what do you need?"

"We need to get to Konoha as soon as possible." He then turned to Sakura. "I, you and kakashi will go." Then he turned to the others "You get to Tazuna and tell him that the mission was successful and that it turned out to be a high level A-rank. He can send the payment later. Pick up the payment for the previous mission and head for Konoha at top speed. Naruto, summon a ride. Shino, you are in charge. We will go ahead to deliver important information and to get Kakashi to the hospital. We will also take the prisoner. Sakura will go keep and eye on Kakashi. Any questions?" there weren't any.

"Good, see you back at Konoha." Anre then jumped onto the dragon's back where Sakura was already sitting supporting kakashi and placed a still unconscious body of a cloud kunoichi. The dragon stretched his wings and raised into the air immediately disappearing.

"Naruto." A single word coming from Shino made everyone start preparing for departure.

Naruto rolled up his sleeve revealing a tattoo similar to Anre's, only his had a symbol of a lashing tail in the center instead of a dragon eye symbol like Anre had."

"When did you get that?" Sasuke asked.

"Anre made it, cool isn't it." Naruto smiled and bit his thumb.

In a poof of smoke an elefant sized fox appeared, three tail behind it.

"So, you are the new summoner. Very well human, I honor the contract." It said in a feminine voice.

"Umm we need a ride, please." Naruto scratched his head.

"Very well, hop on." The summon said.

Soon the group was traveling back to Tazuna's place at great speed.


	28. Chapter 28

Chapter 28 Disturbing news

Guard duty was boring. The two chunin stationed at the gates were preactically sleeping on their post. They only managed to stay partly awake because they knew what Tsunade would do to them if anyone would catch them sleeping. Suddenly one of them percked up.

"Did you hear anything?" he asked his partner.

"Nope."

"I think I heard wings flapping."

"Maybe you actually fell asleep and had a dream."

"Maybe." The chunin shrugged and decided to relax again. But it was not bound to happen as a giant winged serpent landed next to them with a loud thud.

"What the hell!" both chunin cried.

"We are at Konoha, summoner." The dragon said. Then two people jumped down fom it's back.

"You can return to your realm." One of the figures said. The dragon nodded and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Who are you for crying out loud!?"

"Rakizi Anre, konoha jounin and Haruno Sakura, both members of the special combat unit." Anre put down a tied up body of a female and handed his and Sakura's ID. "We have a wounded here and a prisoner and some crusial information for the Hokage."

The chunin checked the ID and nodded and then took a portable radio. Soon a team of ANBU appeared.

"Rakizi Anre, Haruno Sakura you are to follow me to the hokage office." An ANBU wearing a bear mask said. Others picked up the prisoner and kakashi and raised off.

"Agreed, but send word that the rest of my team and team 7 will be here soon."

The chunin guard nodded and went back to their post while Anre and Sakura followed the ANBU operative.

"So you think an ambush like this might be prepared for other teams aswell?" Tsunade asked.

"It is a possibility. One thing is certain. They were well prepared. Organising a band of rogues to draw attention, but not getting involved themselves, making it seem like a C-rank mission. They expected to deal with a genin team, most fortunate that Kakashi decided to send for help."

Tsunade nodded and crossed her hands thinking.

"This is bad, you might actually be right, the fact that those were no rogue nin only proves your idea. Shizune!" Tsunade called for her assistant.

"Yes, Tsunade-sama." Shizune bowed as she came in.

"Send out an order to all teams on C-rank missions to head back immediately, the order should be carried out as soon as possible. And send a word to Anko and Ibiki, tell them there is a job for them, also take these scroll to the morgue, there are bodies sealed in it."

Shizune's eyes widened, but she nodded and went out.

"You two are dismissed, good work, go and rest, I will deal with the rest of our teams."

Anre and Sakura saluted and walked out of the office.

Kakashi woke up and saw a blurry grinning figure over him, which when noticed that he was awake jumped back.

"Is it you Naruto?"

"Yeah, Kakashi sensei, it us, we wondering when you would wake up." Naruto answered grinning. "_Damn, again I didn't see his face._" He thought.

"What were you doing so close to me?"

"As I said, we were wondering when you would wake up, so I looked at you."

"We?" Kakashi looked around and saw that Hinata was also in the room along with Tsunade.

"Oh, sorry, didn't see you there. Greetings Hinata, hokage-sama. I'd stand up, but can't."

"We know perfectly well about that Kakashi." Tsunade said. "Now Naruto, Hinata, come back later, I need to talk to Kakashi."

Naruto and Hinata nodded and walked out of the room after wishing kakashi to get well soon.

"What do you want to know hokage-sama."

"Your opinion. Anre think that it was a planned ambush."

"I agree. No other reason for high class jounins to organize simple thugs. They wanted us to come."

"I was afraid you'd say that."

Suddenly another jounin rushed into the room.

"Hokage-sama, the sand siblings have just returned, they say they were attacked, a member of the team is wounded!"

"Damn it, show the way." She ran out of the room following the jounin. Soon she came to the surgery where Haku, Sakura and several nurses were working on Temari who looked like she have fought a bunch of tigers bare handed. On the way Tsunade passed the rest of her team who looked worried. She also noted that they all looked tired and that they were covered in blood.

"Head to my office, Sarutobi is in charge there, tell him everything, I will come as soon as I am done, now go." Tsunade didn't even look at them making her way to the patient.

"Report." She told Sakura.

"Numerous deep cuts, a broken arm, blood loss, chakra exhaustion. Internal bleeding"

"Get blood from the blood bank." Sakura nodded and passed an order to the nurse. Tsunade was already working on Temari, hands glowing green.

An hour later when most of the work was done she went back to her office where she saw the third sitting behind the desk.

"What did they tell?"

"Ambush by the cloud ninja, good thing Gaara was there with his sand, the enemyes were mostly long range ninjas."

"Have the other teams returned?"

"Yes, I seems we send out the word just in time."

"Good, now we wait. I want to know what the prisoner has to say before we take any further steps."

"Good idea Tsunade, I also suggest sending a party for Jiraiya, his spy network might tell us something, not to mention another sannin might come in handy."

"Agreed."

Several days later in the same office Tsunade was listening to Jiraiyas report. She didn't like what she was hearing. The things Jiraiyas spies found out, were disturbing. It seemed that the cloud decided o start another war. The interrogated prisoner told that they indeed had a plan to deal a blow by killing genin teams by drawing attention by possible C'rank mission.

"….. so right now a huge group of enemy ninjas is advancing via the Riouku river. If don't stop them they will hit the river supply lines."

Tsunade nodded. "I agree and I have just a team for the job, they will delay them for some time until we will gather our forces and hit them hard."


	29. Chapter 29

Chapter 29 Slaughter in the forest

"Great, why do we always get a scouting mission?" one of the cloud nins whined while he and his two teammates were scouting the woods the main force would travel through in the evening.

"Oh shut it crybaby, we are at war here, so get a grip of yourself." The only female in the group said.

"I am not a crybaby, it is just that I hate these scouting assighments, nothing happens, ever."

"Shut it you both." The leader said. "I think we can have a five minute break."

"finally, my legs are getting sore."

"What kind of a ninja are you?"

"Oh, just shut it."

The group settled on a large tree branch. The first ninja sat leaning on the trunk, while his partners each pulled out a cantine full of water to refresh.

"I still think these missions are crap. Nobody goes into these woods, so why scout."

"It is never to bad to make sure, we should conceal ourselves until the very end. The less Konoha knows, the better."

"Yeah, yeah, just i….." The cloud nin couldn't finish as from behind the trunk ninja wire appeared and pinned him to the tree. Before he could react an arrow flew from out of nowhere and pinned the body to the tree through the eye.

"Shit, scatter!" the leader ordered. He and the remaining cloud ninja jumped into opposite directions. But while still airbone the female got hit by a powerful gust of wind that made her crash into another tree, soon to be cleaved in half by a demon shuriken.

The leader seeing that both his teammates got brutally killed barely had time to use a substitution to avoid another arrow."he thoughtnot paying attention to a bug crawling up his leg. Seconds later several more crawled onto him from a tree branch, and some started flying around him.

"What's with these bugs." He whispered in frustration, until a whole swarn raised with low humming surrounding him.

"Oh, shit!" he yelled, formig seals for yet another substitution to escape, but failed as two hands appeared from the shadow behind him a pinned him against the tree trunk, letting the bugs do their dirty job, of draining the nin of all his chakra. After his body became limp the hands merely snapped his neck letting the body drop all the way to the ground level. The next second a nin dressed in all black emerged from the shadow. Soon three more joined him jumping from different spots.

"Well done, lets search the bodyes for anything useful or any info and leave our little surprise. After that to your positions. We will wait for some other guests."

Others nodded and went to complete the task.

Several hours later 10 cloud shinobi came to the scene to investigate the dissapearence of one of their scouting team that didn't report back. They first stumbled across the one pinned by an arrow through the skull, ninja wire was no longer holding him.

"Get the body, we can't leave him here." The captain ordered to a man beside him. Then he turned to other ninjas standing behind him.

"Others scatter and search the perimeter, there might be surviviors." After his men left in different directions he and his remaining subordinate began checking the body for anything useful. First of all ofcource the cloud ninja pulled the arrow out and handed to his commanding officer, who brifly looked at it not to find anything strange.

"Does he still hold the maps?"

"Seems so sir, there is a scroll in his chunin vest pocket."

"Give it here."

"Yes sir." The cloud chunin grabbed the scroll and pulled it out, noticing a string attached to it.

"Shit." The captain yelled and jumped away, just in time to get out of the blast radius. His subordinate wasn't so quik. He only gave his captain a surprised look before getting blasted to pieces. The captain landed on the branch of another tree and heard another explosion, coming, then another one and understood that the others were fooled by similar traps. He pulled out a kunai in case the attackers were still around. Second later a blood freezing scream was heard and he recognized the voice of his other team member.

That made him start moving searching for the others. First he stumbled by a pair that was confused by the explosion. The trio now feeling more secure in group advanced and came to a crater next to which was an upper part of one of the cloud shinobi from their team. Another had part of his torso blown away.

"Damn." One of the cloud shinobi mumbled, as the others were in similar shock looking at a bloody mess. They were soon joined by another couple who came to the scene.

"What happened here?"

"We don't know, we found them like this."

"Others?" the captain asked. Earning a sorrow shake of head from the new pair.

"We found Ruko and Houso, both dead next to a blown apart tree. One had an arrow in his neck, while another was all covered in strange bites. Both dead. There were also part of a third body, probably the remains of a booby-trapped corpse.

"Damn it all. Lets head back, an arrow means that we might still be in danger."

As proof of his words vines sprout from the ground trapping the cloud ninjas. It was a simple genjutstu, but one of the cloud shinobi failed to dispel it in time and ended without a head as a huge shuriked flew through and got impailed in a tree behind the now headless corpse.

"Scatter and head for the camp, we need to inform the commander!" the captain ordered. Immidiately his team scattred in different direction. All of them now were also seriously scared, because during the last 10 minutes 6 members of their team got brutally killed, and they haven't even seen their enemyes yet. The fear didn't help them though.

The first ninja was stopped by a wall of bugs, and immediately understood where the bites on the body of his teammate came from. He tried a fire element jutsu, but while he was trying to burn the now scattered swarn, other bugs crawled from behind. Soon he felt that he was loosing chakra very fast and something crawling on his body. He tore open his vest and shirt and saw bugs all over his chest. Hs screams were stopped by a kunai that hit the panicking shinobi straight in the heart.

The second was progressing until she was suddenly tackeled by a blonde shinobi. She stabbed him with a kunai but he just poofed away. The strike left her open for two more shadow clones to pin her by the arms to a tree. The original dropped from the same tree with a spinning ball of chakra and slammed it into the cloud kunoichi chest making his clones puff away and the victim of the jutsu to break through the tree already dead with half of the chest blown away.

The third saw a pink haired teen running beside him, so he threw several kunai at her, not stopping, but she puffed away appearing on the other side aiming an arrow at him. The cloud nin managed to dodge, but then saw a puff of smoke just in front of him and someone touching his chest. The next second his dropped dead as his heart was cut in two from the inside.

The last, the captain, jumped through the trees and saw several kunai flying at him just in time, so he dodged. Then again and again, as a wave after a wave of kunai and shuriken were thrown at him making him jump back more and more. Finally after another dodge he landed on a branch on the shadowed side of the tree trunk. That was the end as a figure emerged from the shadow and impailed him on a sword, before pulling it out and slicing open the jugular vein.

Anre wiped the blood of the grass cutter. And searched the slain shinobi for anything interesting, but unsurprisingly found nothing. It was logical, who would take anything important into a possible ambush, but checking was still worth it Then he placed an explosive note under the corpse, setting it to explode if the body was lifted. Looking over his handy work Anre went to gather any useful supplies and meet his team back at the randevouz point. His teammates were following a similar set of actions. Also leaving traps on their way back.

Anre met the others two hours later near the river bank several miles away from the ambush site.

"Any problems, injuries?"

Others shook their heads.

"Traps set?"

Now everyone nodded.

"Lets then have a look on the map."

Shino pulled out a rolled up map stolen from one of the cloud shinobi.

"It doesn't say which way they will be progressing." Naruto mumbled.

"Yes, but it shows where the scout parties are to be sent. Look, most are sent in north-east direction. So most likely that is the way they want to go." Sakura said pointing at a map.

"Then it is settled. Naruto make a clone army and trap the area in that direction. If the clone sees anyone just make him puff away. Take the supplies from the stash we made."

"Gotcha." Naruto grinned and made his favourite cross shaped seal. Soon hundreds of Naruto's appeared and raced off.

"Anre, soon they will become more cautious and won't fall for the traps very much."

"true, but they will have to progress very carefully, also sending out sapper teams. We are ordered to slow them down, so that is what we are doing."


	30. Chapter 30

Chapter 30

The cloud commander was not happy to say the least. First a week ago he lost a scout team and then one of the search parties, 13 good shinobi in total. Now he was loosing several almost every day as the forest suddenly was full of traps. So now he was forced to also send sapper teams to disarm any in the way, but that left them open and now already 2 teams haven't returned. In total 32 dead shinobi and not even a glimpse of the enemy, not to mention that their surprise attack was most likely no longer a surprise. The worst thing was, that these ambushes and traps weren't helping with the morale of his troops. Cloud ninjas now didn't want to go out of the camp, because every day some of them didn't return and later were found dead. And not just dead, usually they were found brutally slaughtered. Now the cloud forces were setting up camp on the bank of the river, planning to stay for atleast a day, as the people needed rest after all the commotion and the commander needed time to figure out what to do. Finally he sughed and decided to write to the raikage, as he needed help to get rid of whoever was causing all this trouble.

"Anre, we will soon be getting low on supplies, the traps take very much." Shino said. The others were resting after yet another setting of traps and changing their camp site.

"Then we will send a word to Konoha to send more." Anre shrugged.

"I wonder will they do anything new, I mean we have been causing losses to the cloud and yet, the only thing they did was creating sapper teams." Sakura mentioned.

"I don't know, but just running around setting traps gets me bored and I miss my ramen." Naruto whined.

"Then perhaps you shouldn't have eaten it all in the first night."

"I can't help it, it is too tasty."

"you are a shinobi, jeez."

"But Sakura……"

"Shhhh." Shino hissed raising his head.

"Trouble?" Anre asked. Shino nodded. "Very powerful chakra, my bugs don't like it."

"Naruto, you know what to do."

A tall blonde woman approached a small clearing, where she found a small camp and four people eating. What surprised her, was that they all looked rather young.

"_Sheesh, they couldn't handle a bunch of brats, this is a waste of my abilities_."

She reached for several kunai with explosive tags and threw them at the unexpecting victims, catching them off guard. In the explosion that followed the camp was completely destroyed. She jumped down to look at her handy work.

"Hah! Too easy!" Suddenly she jumped into the air as she felt someone behind her. Just in time to avoid a fatal found, but still earning a scratch on her side. She landed on a tree and saw the boy in black with two daggers looking at her. Before she could do anything she was forced to dodge arrow that came at her and then clearing a way through a swarn of bugs with a fire based jutsu. When she ended up on the ground she got surrounded by four blondes each trying to immobilize her. Being good at taijutsu she managed to dispatch the shadow clones, but barely noticed the fith blonde dropping from the sky.

"RASENGAN!"

The woman leaped aside, but was thrown away by the explosion. Turning in mid air she landed on her feet some distance away.

"Hmm, perhaps you are better then I thought, but no matter."

"Who are you?" Anre asked.

"Well, since you are going to die there is no harm in telling you. My name is Nii Yugito from Kumokagure. I was sent here to deal with you. You see you have been causing too much trouble lately."

"Indeed."

The blone woman smirked and went through several hand seals.

"Lightning element: Discharge!" a bolt of electricity was thrown at Anre, but he sank into the shadow beneath him avoiding the jutsu. In the mean time Shino's bugs tried to surround the enemy but she proved too fast, though she still had to dodge several arrows that very coming from different directions making her job harder. She saw Anre sink into the shadow so she avoided getting close to them. Suddenly she heard the sound of clones appearing behind her and when she turned around she saw that the formed a huge chain that created a long shadow form the edge of the original up to her feet.

"Bastard!" she yelled feeling that her feet were grabbed by two hands. Naruto charged with another rasengan but the target suddenly used a substitution with a log that got the whole power of the jutsu in Naruto's hand. Yugito appeared behind him her hand blasing with electricity.

"Shoking grasp!" but Naruto suddenly faded away.

"Huh? Where did he go?"

"I am right here, bitch." She heard a voice right in front of her. The next second she received a punch to the jaw that sent her in mid air. Shino's bugs waiting for her. Yugito saved herself with yet another substitution. When she landed she made a ram seal.

"Kai."

Immidiately Naruto appeared again and also Sakura on the tree branch behind him.

"So, you are the bowman, and also a genjutsu user." She then turned to Naruto "Impressive you actually managed to hit me and hard." She rubbed her chin and spit our some blood. Sakura puffed away leaving a head sized boulder to fall from the branch. Immidiately arrows started raining from everyside. In mid air two turned to demon shuriken. Yugito twisted in mid air to avoid them only to notice ninja wire attached and an electricity pulse coming through them.

"Lightning element: Lightning sphere." The barrier made of lightning sorrouned the woman deflecting all that was throw at her and frying several bugs that Shino tried to use to attack to her.

"So, what are you going to do now?" Yugito saw Anre raising from the shadow his hands in a dragon handseal.

"Water element: Water dragon no jutsu."

"Damn it!" Yugito yelled pulling down the jutsu, but the water dragon was faster and went through the electricity, electrocuting Yugito and sending her crashing into the tree. Immediately Sakura puffed in front of her grabbing her hand and leg and the puffing away leaving a screaming in pain Yugito to four Naruto clones that pinned her against a tree. Meanwhile Anre pulled out a scrool.

"POWER WORD ART: POWER WORD - SLEEP!"

Yugitos head shot behind but instead off falling down asleep she began to laugh.

"Not bad, truly not bad. I am really impressed. You managed to beat me at my weakest form. I see you want to play serious. Fine."

Sky blue chakra started coming from her making the clones puff away. Black marking started forming around her face and body. Her arm and leg were healing rapidly after Sakura cut the major ligiments. Finally she was all covered in chakra with two tails swaying behind her.

"Damn, she is a jinchuuriki, no wonder my jutsu failed, more then one mind inside of her."

"Haha, right. Meet the power of my tenant, the two tailed cat." Yugito laughed looking rather feral.

"Shino, you and Sakura get away, this will get messy."

Sakura looked at Anre and Naruto from a tree branch. She didn't want to leave them, but understood that she had to stay alive and unharmed to help them after the fight that was coming. So she and Shino left the scene of battle, but not too far, to be in time to heal their friends.

"Naruto, we will have to go all out." Naruto nodded and concentrated.

Now it was Yugito's turn to be surprised as her opponents began to change aswell. The boy in black formed claws, wings and a spiked tail out of pure chakra. His eyes also glowed purple giving him a rather demonic look. The blonde formed chakra features the same way, only his were different. The strange whisker marks became deeper, the eyes became slited. Claws and long ears were formed from chakra along with nine long wildly swaying tails. The blonde got down on all fours while his partned pulled a sword from his back. The blade began blazing with electrical chakra.

"Whoah, seems you will be even more of a challenge. No wonder those idiots in the camp had troubles with you. Now I am almost pleased that the raikage decided to send me here." Yugito charged at Anre in attempt to strike him with her hands as they now had chakra around them resembling cat paws with long sharp claws. Anre shielded with his wings. Naruto launched forward, but his striked were blocked with Yugito's tails. But she was surprised when the blonde jumped away. Anre raised his wings and thrust his sword into the ground. An enormous surge of power went through the ground creating a long several meter wide path destroying half of the clearing. When the dust settled Yugito was still standing and smirking, completely untouched.

"That all?"

Het tails swung worward creating a destructive wave of chakra aimed at Naruto. The boy managed to doge the attack that left a meter deep moat on its way.

"C'mon, make it intere….huh?" yugito looked up and saw Anre over her with his wings spread wide. He took a deep breath and breathed out fire that was so hot that even the demon cloack couldn't protect the woman completely so she jumped out. From behind immediately appeared Naruto with a rasengan formed in his clawed paw. The same time Anre flapped his wings changing direction pulling his sword back that now had water chakra around it with an electrical pulse. Yugito tried to stop both attacks in the same time. She jumped forward using one of the tails to block the sword attack.

"Thunder blade!" Anre struck at the tail digging through the demonic chakra. The power of the impact caused an explosion that made the trees in a hundred meter radius fall. Naruto was throw back, but didn't loose concentration and maintained his rasengan and charged again to the center of a crater that now formed. When he got there he saw Yugito atop of Anre getting ready to land a finishing strike. She had a deep wound on her side, but not lethal. The 'grass cutter' was several meters away stuck in the groung. Naruto sped up, but knew he couldn't make it in time.

"Die!" Yugito cried in demonic voice lowering her hand/paw. But it was blocked by Anre's hands put in a cross shape. The claws of chakra dug deep into the flesh, but Anre kept the enemy in place with his own and took a deep breath.

"RRRRAAAAAGGGGHHHHH!" Yugito cried as even with her demonic chakra she was getting burned.

Naruto jumped forward when the flames stopped. He used his nine tails to keep Yugito's away, just long enough to thrust the rasengan into her back. Since his tails weren't made of demonic chakra they were not as powerful, but he had more of them.

Again Yugito screamed in pain. Now the blast made her fly through the air and stop after crashing creating a long trench and a crater in the end. Nauro rushed to Anre whose dragon features have already faded. Naruto saw three deep cuts on Anre's chest clearly from Yugito's claws as the skin around looked burned.

"Hey! You alright?"

"I've been better." Anre answered weakly caughing out a small coud of smoke. "The throat is all sore."

"C'mon, lets get yo to Sakura." Naruto helped his friend up and supported him with his shoulder. Suddenly they both heard a noise coming from where Yugito landed. The spot was still covered with a dust cloud.

Suddenly a voice came. "Damn, even with my help you are weak. Seems will have to do the thing on my own." Suddenly Anre and Naruto felt a huge chakra spike. The dust began moving creating a vortex until another chakra spike cleared it revealing the two tailed cat glaring at Anre and Naruto. Sky blue fur was decorated with black markings. The two tails completed the picture.

"You managed to damage my continer and thus me. I do not tolerate anyone trying to harm me, now prepare to die!"

"Naruto, summon …. HIM."

Naruto lower Anre jently and rolled up his sleeve revealing a tattoo. Naruto took some blood from a wound on his cheek that appeared when he was thrown back by a chakra explosion.

"I wanted to do this for a long time. Meet a good fried of mine, I think you will recognize him. Summoning jutsu!"

The smoke from the summoning covered the battered land. The two tailed cat felt some very familiar chakra. Suddenly a powerful gust of wind carried the smoke away. In front of the demonic cat stood the lord of the demon foxes, Kuubi, the nine tailed fox himself, in all his might and glory.

For the first time in many years the demon cat felt fear as she looked at the most powerful of the tailed beasts.

"HaHa. You summoned me at last. And as I see you have someone for me to play with, all the better. Very well, I honor the contract!" Kuubi roared with Naruto and Anre on his head. Anre was sittin leaning over one of the two huge fox ears.

"K-K-Kuubi…H-how?"

"Told you'd like my friend." Naruto smirked as the nine tailed fox towered over his much smaller fellow demon. Kuubi lowered his head onto the cats level and gave a mighty roar that made all the trees in front of him be torn out of the ground and the cat to fall down.

"Listen kitten, it is not in the demon rules to kill other of our kind, but hear me and remember, that if you attack my summoner, any of his friends, or his village I will tear your tails off. Understood?"

The demon cat nodded from the ground shaking in fear.

"Good, now get back into your container!" The cat nodded again. It's solid form started to become pure chakra until it turned to vortex and disappeared in a seal on Yugito's back that could be now seen through the whole in clothes left by a rasengan and Anre's fire."

"Hm, coward. So I guess I am not needed anymore."

"Yeah, thanks a lot Kuubi, was nice seeing you."

"The feeling is mutual, now goodbye, summoner till we meet again." After that the fox disappeared in another cloud of smoke.


	31. Chapter 31

Chapter 31 Return

"Anre!" Sakura rushed to her future husband that was barely standing being supported by Naruto.

"Sakura, you are just in time, I think I need some help."

"What did you do here? I understand you had to fight, but was getting all cut up necessary?"

"Sorry, I sort of got hit by a clawed paw."

Anre said as Naruto lowered him down and Sakura began working on the wounds in his chest and hands, stopping the blood and closing the wounds. She also got into her bag and tossed Naruto a can of healing cream.

"Rub it on your bruises and cuts, by the way this was made by Hinata." Sakura said not raising from healing Anre who already stopped bleeding. Naruto enthusiastically grabbed the can. Inside he found cream that had a smell of lavender reminding him of someone back in Konoha.

"So, what now?" Shino asked when Sakura used up most of her chakra and bandaged up Anre. His wounds weren't completely healed but he atleast could now travel.

"We go back to Konoha. We have done as much as we could delaying the enemy. The traps will last for a day or two. Them sending their jinchuuriki must mean we caused quite some trouble. Get ready to leave in an hour. I want the prisoner tied up and the most powerful of our chakra suppressing seals placed on her."

"I doubt they will hold the demonic chakra." Sakura said helping Anre stand up.

"Trust me, her demon won't come out to attack us." Naruto smirked earning a questioning look from Shino and Sakura, but after Anre nodded they let it pass, so Shino went to tie up the cloud jinchuuriki.

"Hokage-sama, the team that was sent to delay the cloud forces has just returned." The chunin from the gard duty puffed into the office.

"What reason?"

"They have brought a prisoner and one of them was wounded. Team medic took the wounded who was Rakizi Anre to the hospital. Aburame Shino was left in charge. He is here with Huuga Naruto to report. The prisoner was sent to the hospital prison wing as she looked also hurt."

"Understood, send the two in."

"Yes, hokage-sama."

Minutes later Shino and Naruto came in. Naruto had a long scratch on his cheek. Shino looked more or less normal, as much as Tsunade could tell him being in his long coat, hood up and shades as ever present."

"Report, and it is better be good."

"Hokage-sama, we did the mission as ordered. The cloud forces suffered great casualties, more then 30 shinobi at least. But it seems we became too much of a problem for them, so they sent a shinobi to eliminate us. As we understood she was sent by the raikage personally. She was a jinchuuriki of a two tailed beast. The battle was hard, but Naruto and Anre managed to defeat her. Me and Sakura were sent away after she unleashed the power of the bijuu, in order to protect our medic. In the heat of battle our team leader was wounded and after healed by Sakura, to a certain degree."

Tsunade sat in her chair thinking over the information, while Naruto was looking at Shino with his mouth open, since it was the first time he ever heard Shino say over three words.

"Very well. I guess you did the right thing by returning since I was going to bring you back soon anyway. Besides, capturing an enemy such as a jinchuuriki certainly is cerious blow to the cloud, not to mention you delayed the cloud forces long enough for us to amass a force needed to end the threat to our supply lines. So this S-ranked assighment will go to your records as a complete sucsess. Also you will get a bonus for the prisoner.

Dismissed."

When Shino and Naruto left she called for Shizune to take over for a bit and took off towards the hospital. She wanted to check on Anre to see if Sakura did her job well. When she got there she was immediately informed by one of the nurses where the recent patient was. Tsunade made her way to one of the therapy rooms and found both Anre and Sakura there. Anre was sitting on the bed, his vest and shirt were on the bed beside him along with the bandages that Sakura used to wrap him up, while Sakura was examining his partly closed wounds.

"Ahem." Tsunade coughed.

"Oh, Tsunade-sama, I didn't see you there. I am sorry." Sakura turned around.

"Greetings hokage-sama." Anre said

"No need. I am actually pleased to see you concentrated on your patient, though you do have a personal interest." Tsunade smiled at a blush that crept up Sakura's face. "Mind if I have a look?"

"Not at all."

Tsunade approached Anre and went through several handseals activating an examination jutsu.

"Hmm I see. The wounds were deep with some burning effect."

"Claws made of demonic chakra." Anre explained.

Tsunade examined for several minutes more until going through another set of seals and healing up the wounds completely, leaving only three long thin red scars.

"Now show me your hands."

Anre did as she asked and soon the rest of the wounds were also closed up.

"Well, Sakura I must admit you did well in the field. As much as I can say those were some serious injuries, possibility of death from the blood loss I suppose. I think I will inlist you as an official medical ninja." Sakura beemed up. "As for you Anre, take it easy for atleast several days. Your teammates gave me the short report and I am glad to tell you that your mission is considered a complete sucsess, not to mention the prisoner you brought. But I except a full report with every detail fitst thing tomorrow morning. Now go."

Anre and Sakura said their thanks and left the hospital.

Raikage was sitting in his office, in a very bad mood. Every thig went not according to plan. One of his attack groups was being delayed by an unknown force, causing losses every day, so the only thing that the raikage had left to do, was to send one of his best shinobi to get rid of them. At least now he could be sure that that problem would be dealt with. That what he thought until a jounin came into his office.

"raikage-sama, we got a message from the west attack force."

"What, is it about Yugito?"

"Yes."

"Finally, one problem less."

"Umm, sir there is a problem still."

"Explain yourself."

"Sir, Yugito was captured after an intence battle."

"WHAT! That is impossible."

"That is what the commander of the west attack force reports."

Raikage grabbed the report hoping it was a bad joke. When he saw that it wasn't he grabbed his head. It was truly not his day.

Two weeks later three cloud nins appeared at the konoha gates. They were immediately surrounded by ANBU and after the declared that the came to discuss a ceasefire their leader was brought before Tsunade.

"So, I was tod you want ceasefire. May ask why? You were eager to start this conflict afterall."

"Our motives are our own, but now we no longer have any desire to continiue this war."

"This time our desires are the same I believe. What exactly you suggest?"

"We go back to our borders before the war….."

"And make it look like nothing happened? No deal, especially considering we hold two of your shinobi prisoner and you hold none of ours."

"Your offer?"

"You pay for each of the according of their rank, plus a 10 million compensation for aggression against us."

"But that is a huge sum of money and…."

"No, it is not, an S-rank criminal is worth more so your village should be able afford, so either take, or we continiue to fight."

The cloud diplomat thought for several minutes until agreeing. "very well, from he name of y village I accept your offer."

"Good, details will be discussed with the council. Also like the tradition says that in case of war all international activities that are traditionally take place in different villages will start their cycle from the beginning. It means that…."

"….that the upcoming chunin exams will take place in Konoha." The diplomat finished.

"Exactly, as a hokage I will make sure that none of your teams get hurt or judged unfair, provided they decide to participate."

"Agreed."

"Fine, you will be sent for when the discussion with the council start. For now you if you wish can enjoy Konoha's hospitality using you current diplomatic immunity. Ofcourse do not expect to be left without someone to watch you."

The diplomat gave a polite bow and left.


	32. Chapter 32

Chapter 32 Exams in Konoha again.

"Here again. Bringa back memories, doesn't it?" Ino muttered.

The rookie nine, the sand siblings and team Gai all stood in front of the academy. Their sensei and Anre's team came to wish them good luck.

"Yeah, not all are good though." Chouji mentioned.

"So, everyone ready to do this!" Kiba cheered.

"Woof."

"I knew I could count on you buddy."

"Ok, lets go, may our flames of youth be brighter than ever."

"Yeah, besides, we will have an advantage, we know what the test are." Sasuke mentioned.

"Yes, but the proctors every time are different." Kakashi smirked under his mask.

"And let me guess, it is useless to ask you who are the proctors this time."

"Exactly. Now go."

The large group entered the academy building. When passing the second floor they saw a large group of genin being fooled by a genjutsu. Finally they made it to the third floor, room 301, which was already full of other genin, including new teams from Konaha, some teams from the sand and rain and a team from the cloud.

"So, this our competition this time."

"Don't forget Kiba, we are each others competition aswell." Gaara grinned with his 'I'll be pleased to crush you' smile.

"Okkkaaayyyyy."

Several minutes later the doors that led to the examination room opened and a figure all in black came in. Somehow the temperature in the room dropped several degrees.

"You all, inside." The figure declared and the rookie nine and others recognized the voice of Anre.

"Why should we listen to you brat?" One of the rain genins who seemed to be quite a bit older then the others stepped forward.

"Because I am a proctor for this exam, and if you don't obey I am free to do anything I want."

"You, a proctor? Yeah, good jok……." The genin couldn't finish as he was suddenly sent flying through the air and crashing into the wall. Noone even caught Anre move, exept Sasuke, Hinata and Neji who activated their bloodlines the moment they recognized their proctor.

"The teammates of an idiot there, have two minutes to wake him up and drag him to the exam room or you are failed, others get inside."

There were no more objections exept the rookie nine, who all wore smirks, while most of the others looked terrified.

"Get inside and find a place that has your name on it." Anre walked to the center of the exam room. And overlooked those who were occupying it including the pair that dragged their barely conscious teammate inside. His eyes were cold even when he looked over his friends. Nothing showed the fact that he knew some of the occupants of the room. Suddenly he sent a wave of killer intent, rooting almost everyone to the spot.

"My name is Rakizi Anre and I will be your proctor for this exam. That is all you need to know about me. In front of you are your tests. You have an hour to do all 10 questions."

"But there are only nine questions." A girl from the hidden rock protested.

"Yes, the tenth question will come later. Your team will be judged upon how you will answer these questions. If any member of the team gets 0 the whole team is failed. If I catch any member of the team cheating atleast 5 times, the whole team failes. Now begin, because the clock has already started ticking."

In the next 50 minute Anre kicked out 14 teams leaving only 24 in the room.

"Put down your pencils, it is time for the tenth question." Anre released some more killer intent gaining everyone attention.

"But before I ask it I feel like I have to tell you some rules concerning it. One, should any of you not answer the question he and his team will fail the exam and be banned from ever taking it again."

"Bullshit, that can't be real!" one of the new rookies of Konoha cried.

"tough luck, and if you interrupt me again I will take personal pleasure in cutting your arms off. Now sit!" Anre released the killer intent at a boy almost making him wet his pants. "Now if there are no more objections I will continiue. You may choose to skip the question, but then you also fail, but will not be banned from taking this exam again in half a year. So, what will it be?" Anre smiled under the mask.

In the next five minutes 8 more teams left, leaving a total of 16 teams."

"Now if this is all, I must tell you that all of you….passed." The rookie nine smirked, though some of them were still under the feeling of desperation when Anre released his killer intent.

"Passed, but the question!?" a member of the sand team asked.

"The decition you made was the last question and you answered it correctly."

"Please explain proctor-sama."

"Very well. When on a mission you must not only be confident on our abilities, but also be confident in your teammates. Those who decided to leave lack one or both."

"But what about the other questions? They were for nothing."

"Quite the opposite. Those questions were far beyond those that a genin could answer. You had to cheat, but without getting caught. Information gathering is most crusial part of the mission. Without the needed info any mission is as good as failed. But even then it is not without it's dangers." With that Anre slowly rolled the sleeve on his left hand and took his glove off showing his scarred arm. "On a mission you must risk sometimes everything and be ready for consequences, like these." Anre raised his scarred hand earning some sick glares and a girl fainting." After that little display Anre pulled down the sleeve and put the glove back on again.

"Your next proctor will be here right about…. Now."

The same secod the doors opened and a man with a ridiciously huge sword entered the room. The aura around him made some of the genin shiver.

"Anre, this is it?"

"Yes, these are the ones that have passed."

"Poor brats, they don't know wha they are up to."

Anre shrugged. "Do what you want, I did my part." Anre shrugged again and disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving the genin one on one with Zabusa, who grineed maniacally.

"Brats, my name is Momochi Zabusa and you can consider yourselves unlucky, because I am your second proctor and I want to have some fun, so follow me."

"The forest of death hnnn…." Team 8 has just entered the exam area of the second test. Sasuke had an earth scroll in his pouch. "Fine, lets get to the tower and prepare an ambush. Hinata, be on the look out."

Hinata nodded an silently activated her byakugan.

"Nobody in my radius."

"fine, lets head out."

Time passed slowly as the team progressed through the forest towards the tower, that was until hinata silently stopped.

"What's wrong?" Kiba asked.

"A team, heading our way, will be here in about 20 minutes."

"Can you make out who that is?"

Hinata only shook her head. "No, only silouettes at this range."

Sasuke nodded and started setting up the ambush.

"Umm, Sasuke, don't use explosive notes." Hinata said.

"Why not?"

"Because you will blow up the scroll, stupid." Kiba yelled.

Sasuke glared at the dog user, but had to admit that his teammates were right. "Fine."

"God I hate this forsaken forest, and where are our targets!" one of the rock nins said in frustration.

"relax Shogu, this is only the first day."

"Still, I hate it."

"I agree with Shogu." The blue haired girl on their team said. Suddenly when she landed on a tree branch it snapped and the girl began falling to the ground.

"Damn." The one named Shogu cried and jumped down catching his teammate. But when he placed her down two spinnig objects launched at them. The girl managed to dodge, but her teammate received the whole dose of the gatsuuga.

"Shugo!" the rock kunoichi cried.

In the mean time the last member of their team was busy dodging kunai and shuriken.

"Fire element: Mystical flame flower no jutsu!" Sasuke cried and spit out a barrage of small fireballs at the rock genin. His opponent managed to evade the attack, but the fireballs destroyed the tree he planned to land on, so he went hurling down to the ground.

Back on the ground the rock kunoichi went through several hand seals.

"Blinding flash no jutsu!" a bright flash of light, similar to a flash bomb appeared in front of Kiba and Akamaru blinding the boy and his dog. The rock kunoichi smirked and pulled out a kunai. Though before she could throw it she felt a presence behind her. When she turned around she saw a girl with strange eyes that was about to strike her in the chest with a palm strike. The force of hinata's juuken strike sent her flying to where her teammate was. She began caughing out blood. A single palm strike caused quite a bit of damage. With the byakugan Hinata could see how the charka not just hit the system, but went all the way through the system, ripping the blood vessels and damaging the organs.

Seconds later the last rock genin jumped out of the bushes and landed next to his fallen teammates.

"Earth element: The impenetrable barrier no jutsu." The land around the rock shinobi and his teammates formed a barrier around them protecting from all sides. Now the rock nins were under the dome made of rock.

"Fire element: grand fireball no jutsu!" Sasuke cried, but his fireball only heated up the barrier. Kiba tried his piercing fand tecknique, but the damage dealt to the dome was immediately repaired.

"Damn, we can't get through!" kiba yelled.

"Let me try!" Hinata stepped forward and started gathering charka in her palm.

"Hey, isn't that the thing Naruto used against Neji?" kiba asked.

When a sphere of spinning charka formed in Hinatas palm she thrust it toward the earth barrier:

"RASENGAN!" the jutsu drilled through the barrier and when it was inside Hinata released it creating a charka explosion. The barrier was torn to pieces and the shinobi inside were sent flying all over the place.

Kiba looked wideeyed at his teammate.

"remember to remind me never to piss off Hinata, Sasuke, because if she hits me with that….. Ugghhh." Kiba didn't want to imagine what would happen. Sasuke nodded, because he knew how powerful the rasengan could be. Back in the valley of the end Naruto did hold back with his attack, now sasuke was certain. Hinata finally lowered her hand and just stood there breathing heavily. Kiba went to check if she was alright, while Sasuke searched the fallen opponents for a scroll, and found the one they needed.

"Seems we are in luck, how's Hinata?"

"I am alright, just it is still tireing for me to form a rasengan."

"I can see why." Kiba muttered looking at the debris created from the collision of Hinatas jutsu and the earth barrier.

"Fine, lets head for the tower."

"Puff." The two scrolls burs in smoke, until finally a figure stepped out.

"congratulations on completing the second part of the exam…. Oh it's you!" Sakura noticed who have summoned her.

"Sakura? What are you doing here?" Kiba asked. "Woof" came from Akamaru.

"Isn't it obvious? She is here to confirm that we passed the second stage, idiot." Sasuke said. Kiba glared in return.

"Well, since you all have been here already I guess I shouldn't explain the writings on the wall and stuff like that." Sakura suggested.

"No need."

"Great, then lets go. I'll show you to your rooms, by the way you are the second team to come."

"Let me guess, the sand siblings were first."

"Yep. Imagine that they summoned Naruto, directely from the ramen stand, a bowl of ramen, chopstiks and noodles hanging from his mouth were provided."

Everyone burst out laughing. Even Hinata giggled imagining Naruto in such a predicament.

"Ok, here we are. You have four days left to rest or do anything else you want."

"And where will you be going?" Kiba asked.

"To the chunin floor, all chunin that are summoned here should stay at the tower, those are the rules. Besides, Anre is also here."

"And that means Naruto too?" Hinata asked suddenly a blush creeping up her face.

"Of cource. I'll tell him that you and your team arrived." Hinata nodded and went to check her room. The boys got the room across.


	33. Chapter 33

Chapter 33 the exams go on.

In total 6 teams made it this time. Team 8, team 10, team Gai and the sand siblings among them. There was also a team from the hidden rain and the team of this year rookie from Konoha, that studied under jounin sensei Genma. Hokage, with all the jounin and chunin taking part in the exam, held the usual speech about the real cause of this exam, until announcing that there was going to be a preliminary round. To put it easy the chunin exams this year were dominated by Konoha genin. When Tsunade finished her speech Ebisu stepped forward.

"Greeting, my name is Ebisu and I will be the proctor for the preliminary round. The rules are simple. Two combatants are chosen by chance and are to fight each other till one is unable to go on. We also would like to ask you to try not to kill your opponent. Now, for the first pair." Ebisu gestured at the screen on the wall. Names began flashing around until a phrase appeared:

"Subaku no Kankoruo vs. Huuga Hinata."

"A Huuga versus a puppet master, might be interesting." A jounin leader of the rain team said.

"Fight!" Ebisu jumped back. Hinata immediately went into her usual juuken stance, while Kankoruo knowing very well that it was no use hiding his puppets from the byakugan took two scrolls strapped tp his back and unrolled them, summoning two puppets, each controlled by one hand.

"Lets start, shall we?" Kankoruo grinned. One of the puppets spit out several kunai at Hinata. The girl dodged effortlessly and attempted to get closer to Kankoruo who as it seems decided to stay away from her, concentrating on distance fighting. Puppets began attacking from multiple sides, showering her with projectails, until……

"KAITEN!" Hinata began spinning knocking all the kunai and shuriken away, back at the puppets and Kankorou aswell, who had to dodge. That little time was enough for her to get close to one of the puppets and cut the charka strings using juuken. The puppet helplessly slumped tp the ground.

"Damn." Kankoruo swore, but then suddenly grinned. "but I have something new to entertain my opponents." Kankoruo unrolled 4 more scroll to reveal 4 more puppets. Then suddenly 4 mechanichal arms appeared from his sides, each using charka strings to control a puppet.

"Like it? This is something I came up with after studying Sasori's puppets. I am not a freak to make myself into one, but adding some features might be useful."

"So that is what he was doing all that time in the workshop, impressive, he practically tripleified his ability to control puppets." Temari whispered earning a nod from Gaara, who was also surprised by Kankoruo's new feats.

The puppets launched at Hinata who used kaiten again to throw them back.

"You can't keep that up forever." Kankoruo declared as his puppets once again were thrown back. "But I really don't want to wait."

This time Kankoruo sent only four puppets at hinata leaving the fifth to attack once she was out of kaiten.

"Now!" The puppet charged, but Kankorou failed to see a blue sphere in Hinata's hand.

"RASENGAN!"

The puppet exploded into pieces showering Kankorou in debris. That gave Hinata a window of opportunity, because the puppetmaster had to stay concentrated on his target and puppets at all time. Hinata used a substitution with a piece of a broken puppet to get closer to her opponents and with a few strikes she sealed the tenketsus that were feeding charka into the mechanical arms. Second later the just hung helplessly.

"Oh, damn." Kankorou said, frowning from pain after getting his tenketsus closed. He lost concentration and even the puppet connected to his real arm dropped lifeless.

"Your move?" Hinata raised her hand glowing with charka ready for a powerful juuken strike.

"I know when I am beat. Proctor! I give up!"

Ebisu adjusted his glasses. "The winner Huuga Hinata!"

Hinata smiled and her hand began to glow with green medical charka she then used to ease the pain for Kankoruo.

"Ahhh, that feels better, nice match, but I beat you next time, I still have a few ideas to work out."

Hinata nodded and went back to the balcony, noticing Naruto showing her thumbs up from the group of jounin and chunin. Kankoruo stayed behind to gather the remaines of his destroyed puppet and reseal other.

The screen flashed again stopping on two names:

"Rock Lee vs. Azuki Ruk."

Lee's opponent turned out to be a boy from this year rookie team. The boy went down looking confidentally at Lee, grinning.

"Man, what a fashion freak."

Lee didn't answer, but his face hardened.

"Begin!" Ebisu jumped back.

Ruk immediately threw several shuriken at Lee and started forming hands seals, but never had a chance to finish, as Lee using his superior speed was before him before the shuriken even reached the place where he used to stand.

"Huh?" the next second the boy was sent into the air. Lee followed and began pummeling him with swift and powerful hits until the kid landed hard being knocked out.

Lee landed beside him and shook his head. This was the second time he fought here, but this time his opponent proved to be little challenge.

Ebisu checked on Ruk and motioned the medics to take him away.

"the winner, Rock Lee!"

"Uchiha Sasuke vs. Rokuai Tori."

Sasuke and a kunoichi from the rain team came down. The girl was dressed in a blue t-shirt and a pair of shorts. She glared at her opponent, who didn't show any emotion at all.

"Begin!"

"Hidden mist jutsu!" the girl cried enveloping the arena in a thick fog.

Sasuke looked unfased, but inside he was cursing, as the fog limited the usage of his sharingan, but it still helped his dodge the kunai that were thrown at him. Sasuke then jumped out of the cloud and while in the air formed hand seals.

"Fire element: mystical flame flame flower no jutsu!"

A dozen of small fireball were shot out from the boys mouth inti the fog. He didn't hope to hit the girl, but in the light of a fireball saw a shadow moving.

"Gotcha!" Sasuke bounced of the sealing and landed loudly infront of his target, now that they were close the fog didn't conceal her. With blinding speed Sasuke sent her into the air and immediately followed, delivering kick and punches in a complex combo.

"LION BARRAGE!" he cried with the last kick sending the girl crashing into the fog beneath. Several seconds later the jutsu was lifted revealing a still conscious rain kunoichi, but in too much pain to stand.

"The winner Uchiha Sasuke!"

In the next hour the konoha shinobi proved to be a dominating force in this year chunin exams. Haku beat Chouji, earning a smile and a nod from Sasuke, Ino and Neji beat the last two members of a new konoha genin team, Kiba and Temari beat the last two members of a rain team, while Tenten gave Gaara a hard time with explosive notes made look like her weapons, but Gaara still won, though Tenten was quite pleased with her fight. Few ever penetrated Gaara's defences.

Soon came the match ups for the finals.

Momochi Haku vs. Gaara of the desert.

Uchiha Sasuke vs. Huuga Hinata

Rock Lee vs. Temari

Yamanako Ino vs. Inuzuka Kiba

Huuga Neji to fight the winner of the fourth match.

The reactions were different. Sasuke was interested in testing himself against Hinata, especially considering she learned the rasengan. Haku frowned, Gaara wasn't an opponent that she was sure to beat.

"I am so busted." She whispered to Sasuke.

"Hey, nothing is yet decided, as everybody else he has a weaknes, I am sure Zabusa will come up with an idea to help you. I got a difficult opponent also."

"Oh yes, don't know what was that jutsu she used, but I wouldn't want to get hit by that."

"you mean the rasengan? Naruto taught her I bet, he is the only one who I can think of to teach her."

"Good for her, too bad I can't learn your chidori."

"It didn't help against Gaara that much, the last time I faced him, so you don't loose much."

"Still that is a good move."

"Yeah, but Kakashi said that it is also quite useless without the sharingan."

"Ok, lets go, I say we go to our tea shop to celebrate."

"Lets go."

Author note: Ladies and gentlemen, place your bets:)) 

P.S. Right now I have exams in university, so I am not writing new chapters due to the lack of time. But thanks to the fact that I am already a lot farther into the story I have chapters to upload from time to time. I hope they will last till the exams are over. Thanks for reviews and I am glad that someone likes my story.


	34. Chapter 34

Chapter 34 training for the finals.

Kiba burst into his clan house and immediately went looking for his mother.

"Mom!"

"What! It is three in the morning!" Kiba heard an angry voice in response from his mother room. Only then Kiba looked at the clock and saw that it was indeed three in the morning.

"Whoops!"

"Now tell me why on earth you woke half of the house."

"I passed the second exam and the preliminary round and now need to learn something new for the finals, I though you could help."

"So you passed, good. I think I know something that will impress the others. I will start training you tomorrow after you clean up the whole house and the kennels."

"WHAT!!!!!! THE WHOLE HOUSE!"

"STOP YELLING IDIOT! Consider it punishement for waking me in the middle of the night." Tsume went back to her room, having a mixed feeling of pride for her son, and anger for ruining her beauty sleep.

"We sure are busted Akamaru." Kiba whispered to his pet, who whined.

"What do you mean i am busted? We are in this together!"

"GO TO YOUR ROOM AND STOP YELLING!"

Kiba shivered as killer intent began coming from the direction of his mother's room.

"Ok, ok, I am going, I am going."

"So, you passed, good."

"Not just passed, she rocked, Kankorou didn't know what hit his puppets."

"Oh, I see you faced a puppet master, I heard that that boy is talented. Good work, you brought pride to the clan Hinata. Neji, you did well also. Now go rest, tomorrow we will start your training for the finals."

Hinata bowed to her father. She was indeed glad to pass, but too tired to celebrate, unlike Naruto, who seemed never to be tired, but seeing his fiancée ready to fall asleep decided to postpone celebrations. Neji didn't look as tired, but was also looking forward to a good night sleep, besides, he knew that training with Hiashi was never easy.

"Good night Naruto, I am going to go to bed." Hinata yawned ad went to her room.

"So what are you going to teach her and Neji, Hiashi-sama?"

"you'll see."

"Kakashi-sensei….."

"Sasuke, I can't train only you, there are two more people on your team, so…"

"But Kiba said that he is going to ask his mother to train him in his clan teckniques, hinata is most likely going to be trained by her father or someone he orders to, so it is only fair for the only sharingan user but me to train me."

Kakashi rubbed his chin. Sasuke's reasoning was actually quite fair. Hinata and Kiba really would get better help from inside their clan, since the finals are the demonstration of individual skills.

"Very well, if everything will turn out the way you say, I will concentrate on you Sasuke."

"Fine, then it is settled."

"Ok, training ground 8 tomorrow at sunrise." Kakashi disappeared. Sasuke gave a small smile and went back to his estate.

"So, you passed Haku."

"Yes, Zabusa-sama."

"Good, and stop calling me sama, I am no longer your master. Add sensei if you want to be respectful, especially considering I will help you train for the finals. Who is your opponent?"

"Subaku no Gaara."

Zabusa's eyes widened.

"Him? Hmmm… this will be hard, but I have several tricks that will give him a hard time. Don't worry, If not beat, you will sure give him a good fight Haku, that I promise."

"Thank you Zabusa-s….sensei."

"Lee, your youthfulness has made me believe that you will become chunin this time!"

"Yes, Gai-sensei, I will beat my opponents and make you proud and if I don't I will circle Konoha 20 times on my hands!"

"Lee, ti make your flames of youth even brighter I will train you for this match, we will wotk extra hard!"

"Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!"

The two figures gave each other a hug.

"Kiba fell on the ground, Akamaru was beside him looking very tired.

"No, no, no. Don't just pump charka into it. You have to mix yours and Akamarus chakra's," Tsume frowned looking at her son failing to do the tecknique again. Indeed it was hard, but Kiba was failing miserably. Tsume was already not sure if he was ready for these more complex jutsus of the Inuzuka clan.

"I'll get it. You'll see. It is just so damn hard."

"Well what did you expect? A walk in the park?"

"Yeah, yeah. Ok lets tray again Akamaru."

Neji and Hinata both stood before Hiashi in the training grounds. Naruto went to practice using wind charka with kunai to not disturb them, so the blond hurricane wasn't around.

"Now, today we will start your training for the finals. Each of you will learn a teacknique that, another knows. Hinata will learn divination 64 palm strike, while you Neji will learn the rasengan."

Hinata's eyes went wide, while Neji looked skeptical.

"I see you have your doubts Neji?"

"With all respect Hiashi-sama, but rasengan is indeed a powerful jutsu, but how will I benefit from it, it doesn't go well with the juuken style of fighting."

"Yes, you are correct, but you forget that Hinata uses juuken aswell, yet benefits from it. You see, juuken doesn't provide enough destructive force Neji, unlike the rasengan. And there is also another benefit, that is easyer to demonstrate. Hinata, please sparr with Neji."

It was some time since Neji and Hinata sparred, but even though the boy wore a confident smirk, Hiashi knew that he was for a bit of surprise. Hinata and Neji both slid into their stances. Neji was the first to attack. His palm strike was blocked and Hinata attempted to counterattack. Neji smiled, he easily saw through the strike and blocked it. That, was where the surprise came. Hinata's juuken strike was many times more powerful then he expected. His arm went limp immediately and Hinata delivered a palm strike directly to his chest sending Neji rolling on the ground.

"See the difference?" Hiashi asked, while Hinata used a healing jutsu to patch Neji up.

"What happened?"

"You see Neji, Hinata's charka reserves grew several times, so the amount of charka she pumps into the strike also grew several times, making it lethal. You actually experienced anly a fraction of it, as Hinata learned to limit the flow to the maximum during training. Or else her strike would have killed you."

"And that thanks to the rasengan?"

"Not exactly, but if you learn it, you will be able to strike like that."

"Then I'll do it."

"Fine, Hinata, bring the ….. necessary equipment." Hinata smiled and nodded. Soon she was back with several ballons filled with water and several rubber balls.

"Now, observe carefully." Hiashi said and nodded to Hinata who held the water filled balloon. Neji activated his byakugan and saw how Hinata moved water with charka to burst it.

"Now you." Hiashi handed Naji the balloon. The boy shrugged and repeated the exercise with ease.

"Good, now you know how the charka moves. Next step, Hinata."

Now Hinata took a rubbed ball and rotated the air inside. The amount of charka she pumped into it almost blinded Neji, until the ball was ripped to shreds.

"Your turn."

Neji took the ball, but to his surprise even with moving the charka the ball barely sturred.

"Not as easy, is it?"

"What am I doing wrong?"

"You need to pump in more charka, simple as that. The move needs power, that you lack. So keep trying, until your reserves will grow. Even if you do not master the rasengan by the finals, your juuken strikes will still became much more powerful, now keep training.

Neji nodded and looked curiously at Hinata, wondering how much time and hard work she dedicated to learn this. Neji then concentrated back on the ball, while Hiashi began explaining to his daughter the secrets behind the divination 64 palm strike move.

"So, what will you teach me Kakashi-sensei?"

"You are facing a powerful opponent. You know very well, that Hinata is very capable in close quaters thanks to juuken and the rasengan. Long and mid range are useless due to kaiten."

"So, what do I do?"

"Use the sharingan to read her movements and counter. So you will learn taijutsu. But not like before. This time you will learn to fight defencevly, mostly dodging the attacks."

"Why?"

"Because a single hit from the juuken specialist can cause much damage. Hinata thanks to learning rasengan has grown her charka reserves, so her blows will be even more powerful. In other words, get hit and you loose."

"Odds are against me this time, aren't they?"

"In a way. The taijutsu training will be used to make sure you don't get hit, but you will have to attack at long range, because spending too much time in close quarters with her is suicide. As for the odds, you did manage to loose to Sakura." Kakashi chuckled as Sasuke scowled over a painful memory. His pride really received a powerful blow that time. But atleast now Sasuke was learning from his mistakes.

"But what about kaiten?"

"Like any other defence it can be breached, remember the first chunin exams?"

Sasuke's eyes widened. "Yes, I remember. Naruto breached kaiten with the rasengan."

"correct, but do you know why it worked."

Sasuke shrugged his shoulders.

"The rasengan is a selfsustaining jutsu, unlike kaiten. So Neji just couldn't keep up."

"That means chidori won't help here."

"Correct, thus breaching it might get complicated, but there is another way."

"Like what?"

"If you can't get through, get under it."

Sasuke hit an invisible wall and stopped dead in his tracks.

"That simple?"

"Well, it ain't THAT simple, but, yes. But you will have to work, to do what I have in mind."

"I'll do what I must."

"Haku, concentrate!"

"Yes, Zabusa-sama."

Haku tried the jutsu again, but it collapsed half way before completing.

"Haku, you are using your bloodline, but you still need to concentrate on the image of what you create and stay focused to control it. It is not as easy to create stationary ice mirrors. It is much harder to control a jutsu that basicly lives it's own live."

"I see, yet when Anre does the water version of this, it seems so easy."

"Don't forget his skill is far greater and that he uses only one element, water, while you use a combination. Your version will be more powerful, but more charka draining. Remember it is a finishing move."

"Yes, Zabusa-sama. But first I have to master it."

"Then why are you standing around?"

Haku sighed and attempted to do the jutsu yet again.

"Gai-sensei. What youthful training shall we do."

"Lee, your opponent will be a long range fighter, so I will train you extra hard to learn to fight such an opponent."

"But Gai-sensei. Tenten is also a long range specialist, and I sparred a lot with her."

"Lee. Our youthful comrade is indeed a long range fighter, but of a totally different sort. You can dodge a kunai, but dodging a gust of wind might be problematic."

"I see. So what do I do?"

"You move Lee. Faster than before. But now, you also have to move unpredictably. You have to confuse your opponent, make her mind and eyes work against her."

"I see. I will master this style, or else I will jup on one leg around Konoha 500 times."

"Lee!"

"Gai-sensei."

The two figures gave each other their usual hug.


	35. Chapter 35

Chapter 35. Clash of the titans.

"Anre, lets hurry, or all the good seats will be taken." Anre and Sakura sped up towards the arena where the finals were about to take place. Several minutes later they made it. The stadium was still half empty, so I wouldn't be a problem to get good seats.

"Hey guys! Over here!" Anre and Sakura turned to see Tenten and Chouji waving to them. Behind them were Gai, Asuma, Kurenai, Baki, Zabusa and Kakashi. The young shinobi quikly made their way to their friends and mentors and took seats between Tenten and Zabusa, whu placed his huge blade beneath the chair in order not to block the view to Asuma and Kurenai behind him.

"Oh, I see there will be two visiting kages this time." Anre motioned to the kage lodge where three huge throne like chairs were placed, covered with the symbols of the leaf, rain and sand villages.

"Why are they here? None of their teams progressed." Sakura mentioned.

"Yes, but it is still a good opportunity to see our shinobi in action and judge the strength of our village."

"So they are basicly spying on us?" tenten fumed.

"In a way, but they will not see anything more than we will show. Besides it is a good advertisement for us. The feudal lords will see that we have lots of shinobi. They will also see good fights, I hope. All that will prove Konoha to be a powerful shinobi village. I suspect a boom in mission assighments."

"That would be so cool." A voice came from behind. Everyone saw Naruto, Shino and Shikamaru approach. All three took a seat on the other side of Zabusa.

"Any prognoses, opinions on who will win?" Naruto asked.

"The first match will be Haku against Gaara. Hard to tell. Gaara's defence is very hard to penetrate, while Haku is hard to catch. The one to penetrate the others defence first will be the most likely winner." Asuma concluded after lighting his cigarette.

"Hey, there coming out." Naruto pointed at the arena. And indeed, the combatants were coming out and forming a line in the center of the arena. The audience went silent when a jounin appeared in a puff of smoke. He was wearing a bandana and sunglasses.

"Greetings, my name is Aoba, I am your final proctor. The rules are like in preliminaries. Very simple. Now everyone except the first pair, please, get to the waiting area. Haku and Gaara soon were the onlyone left on the arena. They silently faced each other and nodded. Aoba jumped back.

"Begin!"

haku immediately sent several needles at Gaara, which ofcource were blocked by the sand. But in the mean time Haku created ice mirrors around the place and jumped into one of them. Soon you could see her image in every mirror.

"The thousand needles of death!" the images declared in unison and immediately thousands of needles began showering Gaara, who kept standing, looking unfased as his sand shield blocked every single shot. Then he stretched his hand.

"Rain of sand." The sand around him began sending drops of compressed sand in every direction breaking through the mirrors, but several of the mirrors were parelles to the ground and weren't damaged.

"That's new, never knew Gaara could do that." Tenten muttered.

"His ability to control sand is limited only by his reactions and imagination." Baki mentioned looking at his student.

Back at the arena Gaara spread his hands.

"Beast crush." Two huge hands formed from sand appeared both sides of Haku. When Gaara clapped his hands together, so did the the sand palms. With an enormous thud, they connected. Kakashi noticed Sasuke grab the rail surrounding the waiting area, and an expression of relief as he saw Haku unhurt, safe between two walls of ice surrounding her. Haku began forming hand seals.

"Oh, finally, she is going to do it." Zabusa smirked.

"What?"

"Oh, you'll see, but I will say that she was inspirited by the water dragon tecknique."

Back at the arena Haku finished, stopping at the dragon seal.

"Ice element: Ice dragon no jutsu." Just like with the water dragon, water was drawn from the air and ground, but then it instantly turned to ice, but was still moving.

"Grip of the sand." Gaara muttered and the sand began forming rings around Hakus dragon, but the ice serpent suddenly launched forward, freezing the sand around it instantly. Gaara barely managed to create a floating island of sand to avoid becoming a block of ice. The ice dragon turned around and went for airbone Gaara.

"Frost breath." Haku yelled and the dragon spit out a cloud of blue smoke, that instantly froze part of gaara's sand he was using for attack. The floating island began quikly moving away from the ice dragon, but the arena didn't provide enough space, so Gaara decided to attack again. He started gathering sand above his head.

"Oh, no yo won't. Frost breath." Haku ordered the dragon again. Gaara smirked when he saw a cloud moving towards him and simply launched a boulder of compressed sand through it at the dragon. When it went through the cloud it became a boulder of ice, but it was still moving toward the dragon. Haku jumped away, but her creation got the full force of the strike. The boulder made the head of the ice serpent burst into shards of ice, following the whole tecknique to collapse. Before Haku could stand up she was pinned down by the sand. She struggled a bit, but in vain.

"Yield?" gaara asked with his arm crossed on his chest.

"I have a choice?"

gaara only shook his head.

"Fine, you win."

"The winner. Subaku no Gaara." Aoba declared. After that the sand pulled Haku up.

"Hmm, I guess my tecknique needs work."

"It was a good match."

"Yes, I was honored to fight you Gaara. Till we meet again." Haku left the arena, while Gaara went to the waiting area.

"That was impressive." Anre said rubbing his chin.

"You kidding, that was freaking amazing, the jutsu that instantly freezes stuff!" Naruto looked freaked out.

"She still lost." Zabusa didn't show it, but he was a bit disappointed. He hoped Haku to win.

"gaara used her own strength against her." Shikamaru said.

"Yeah, who knew Gaara could be such a good strategist."

"I knew." Baki said. "He is really a talented ninja, his sand abilities are just a bonus."

"He is a candidate for promotion." Kakashi mentioned. But lets watch the next fight.

"Hmmm, the previous fight was rather…interesting."

"I agree Tsuchikage-sama, but the next one will be no less entertaining, considering it will be a match between the members of two of Konoha's greatest clans." Kazekage adjusted his hat after that.

"Yes, the outcome is hard to predict. What will it be, sharingan, or byakugan. Hard to tell."

"it is not only about the bloodlimit, it is also about the shinobi wielding it." Tsunade replied. "Lets watch."

"Begin!"

Sasuke jumped back throwing several kunai at Hinata, who dodged them with little effort and charged at him, trying to get closer. Sasuke kept jumping back, sending kunai shuriken at his opponent, who kept dodging and closing in, until jumping and spinning in mid air, parallel to the ground, avoiding two shuriken. Sasuke easily saw that Hinata threw her own kunai at him, so he leaned back, avoiding getting hit, but it was enough for Hinata to get close.

"You are in range of divination."

"_Damn, don't get hit, don't get hit."_ Sasuke screamed in his head

"Sharingan!"

"Two strikes!" Sasuke dodged at amazing speed.

"Four strikes!" the same.

"Eight strikes!" still dodged

"Sixteen strikes!" dodged but with effort.

"Thirty two strikes!" dodged barely.

"Sixty four strikes" finally four last strikes connected and Sasuke gasped in pain, getting knocked back. He avoided getting most of his tenketsus blocked, but the last four strikes hurt like hell. Hinata also looked winded, as her attack was very tireing.

"Damn, that hurts."

"It I supposed to." Hinata answered.

"Fine, now it's my turn. Fire element: Grand fireball no jutsu!"

Sasuke spit out a huge fireball toward Hinata.

"Kaiten!" the girl began spinning creating a dome of charka around her, making the fireball useless. But when she stopped, Sasuke was nowhere to be seen, even byakugan couldn't pick him up. Suddenly Hinata felt someone grabb her ankles.

"Oh no." she whispered understanding where Sasuke went and immediately formed handseals.

"Headhunter no jutsu." Sasuke declared getting from underground looking at Hinata buried up to her neck. "So give up, or should I knock you out?"

"Neither." Hinata smiled and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Crap, she managed to do the seals for a substitution."

Sasuke felt a presence behind him. "Rasengan!"

"Chidori." Sasuke thrust his barely formed in time jutsu to meet the spinning sphere of charka.

"BOOM!" Sasuke and Hinata were sent in different direction after a minute of struggeling for dominance with their best attacks. Sasuke flew through the air and painfully crashed into the wall and then fell face down on the ground. Hinata went skitting and rolling on the ground until coming to a rough stop at the tree that grew not too far from the opposite wall.

"Hinata!" Naruto cried standing up.

"She's fine, they didn't power their attacks to the maximum."

"How do you know Anre?"

"He is right naruto, remember your fight with Sasuke, the effect was far worse." Kakashi said. Naruto sat down, but still looked tence.

Back at the arena sasuke and hinata slowly stood up, both looked beat up. Both started walking towards each other, then running, then getting into full charge. Hinata got ready to strike juuken style. Sasuke knew that he wouldn't last long in a taijutsu fight with Hinata, so he had to make his attacks count. He not just blocked, but grabbed Hinata's palm. His hand felt like it was ripped off, but he held on to it and delivered a powerful spinning kick to Hinata's shoulder, sending her spinning in mid air and falling not to far away. She stood up clutching her hurt shoulder, while Sasuke stood with his arm hanging lifelessly.

"Lets finish it." He said, breathing hard. Hinata nodded. She also was reaching her limit.

The audience went silent, waiting for obviously the last attack of the match. Hinata launched forward, aiming a palm strike to the chest, but Sasuke knocked her hand off cource with a swift kick and delivered a kick to the side of her head with the same leg. Hinata though still connected a palm strike to sasuke's chest with her other hand. Second later Sasuke was sent falling on his back, while Hinata flew several meters and stopped. They both tried to get up, but couldn't.

Aoba checked on both of them and called forth the medics to carry them away.

"Due to a double knock out, I declare a draw."

When the results were told Naruto stood up and went to the infirmary. Others told him that they would tell them he will miss anything. Naruto nodded and hurried downstairs.

Soon he was gained by sakura and Anre.

"Hey, don't you want to see the rest?"

"the fact that I am a medic, comes first." Sakura said and walked forward. Naruto turned to Anre who just shrugged and followed. Soon the came to the infirmary, where several other medics were working on hinata and sasuke. Haku was there with a bandage on her forehead, but in every other way she was alright, so she helped Sasuke. Sakura noted that and went over to Hinata. Her hands beginning to glow green.

"Hinata-chan, how are you?"

"Naruto? I, I am fine, or will be fine."

"Yeah, nothing serious, just exausted and some minor cracks in shoulder bones." Sakura explained with a smile. "But you will have one hell of a bruise on your shoulder, so keep it easy for a week or so. Haku, how is sasuke?"

"Not bad. He is just in pain because he had some of his tenketsus closed and his charka network is all messed up, especially in his hand. Will be fine though." Naruto and Anre felt somehow out of this conversation between two medics.

"Uhhh, I never knew juuken strikes were that painful." Sasuke slowly sat up rubbing his arm. "Good fight Hinata-san."

"Likewise. I liked fighting you, and made remarks, on how to perfect my abilities."

"So have I. Perhaps we will meet agin in combat someday."

"Yeah, yeah, enough politness. Now lie down, I am not finished with you." Haku said narrowing her eyes.

"Heh, ok, ok, you win." Sasuke smirked lieing down.

"Good, now stay still." Haku continued.

"Awww, how cute." Sakura teased earning a glare from Sasuke, which made everyone else burst out laughing. Sasuke glared a little more, but then suddenly burst out laughing himself.

"So, did we miss anything? Sakura asked as she and Anre came back.

"Nah, they had a break after the last match. How are they by the way?" Tenten answered.

"they'll be fine, besides Haku is also there and she is a capable medic. Naruto stayed aswell, so everything should be alright."

"Ah, my youthful student entered the arena.!" Gai declared from his spot getting into his good guy pose.

"I'll give you three guesses." Sakura laughed.

"Very funny, lets watch."

"Don't think that Temari a pushover Gai." Baki declared.

"No, I think that the flames of youth in your student shine bright aswell, but those of Lee's have never been brighter!"

"Oh boy, does everything that comes out of that mouth sound like crap?" Baki whispered to Kakashi who nodded and began to read his orange book again.

"Begin!"

"Gust of wind!" Temari immediately took offencive. Her jutsu missed lee, who quikly dodged to the left and began running around Temari, constantly changing his direction.

"Stay still!" Temari yelled in frustration as yet another attack missed.

"Fine, you asked for it!" Temari began spinning, creating a mini tornado. This time Lee jumped into the air, as it was the only way left for him to do.

"Gotcha!" Temari grinned and sent yet another wind based attack at Lee, knowing, that while in air he couldn't dodge. Lee on the other hand pulled out a kunai with a ninja wire attached to it and threw it into the tree. Just before he was hit, Lee pulled himself out of the way.

"Clever." Kakasi said

"Yes! Lee's flames of youth a getting brighter!" Gai declared. "He figured that without gen or ninjutsu he would have to find an alternative, and this actually worked!"

Back at the arena Lee decided to go offencive. He continued to circle Temari, until instead of dodging he leaped over her attack and got close to her.

"Konoha whirlwind!" Lee threw a powerful kick. Temari packed up her fan and used it's metal frame to block the attack. Lee used the momentum to grab it and kick temari in the chest, leaving her fan in his hands. Temari looked up angrily from the ground, but then sighed and got up.

"Fine, you win. Proctor, I give up."

"The winner Rock Lee."

"YES! LEE!" Gai began crying from happiness and pride. Other sweatdropped looking at a bizarre scene.

The next fight between Ino and Kiba turned out to be surprising as Ino managed to trick Kiba and Akamru and mind transfer with the dog, while he was in a man beast clone mode. For a minute Kiba was in total shock as he figured, he would have to fight his own partner. After dodging and eveding several attacks he remembered about Ino's defenceles body and targeted it. When Ino with Akamaru's eyes saw Kiba holding a kunai to her throat, she yielded, knowing full well, that she lost.

"Kiba vs. Neji" I can't imagine two more opposite styles of fighting. Feral and unbredictable Kiba and cold calculating Neji." Anre remarked from his place.

"Begin!" Aoba jumped back. As expected Kiba attacked first, turning Akamaru into exact replica of him self they fiercely attacked the Huuga prodigy. Neji with a smirk evaded all attacks, until noticing an opening in Akamaru's guard. With a single palm strike the dog turned to it's original form and went flying through the air. Surprised Kiba followed shortly.

"Bastard! That hurt!" Kiba yelled getting up. Akamaru slowly got up aswell.

"Gatsuuga!"

Kiba and Akamaru went flying forward, spinning.

"Kaiten!" Neji started the Huuga's most powerful defencive tecknique. One of the spinning vortexes was thrown aside, but another, that turned out to be Akamary, waited until kaiten stopped and then attacked. Neji jumped aside, but was sent rolling on the ground due to the power of the blast wave from the impact.

From inside the dust cloud a voice came.

"Akamaru! The two headed wolf." That was followed by a chackra spike, that raised even more dust into the air. When it finally settled, before Neji stood a giant, two headed replica of Akamru, which was growling at him.

"Whoah, Kiba was sure not waisting time, wasn't he." Chouji said. The scene even made him stop eating for a second.

The giant dog jumped forward and began spinning in mid air.

"Kaiten!" Neji cried, but the power of Kiba's tecknque overpowered the rotation and Neji was sent crashing into the wall. The dog slowly advanced, looking how Neji got up, blood coming from a wound on his thigh and arm. Neji glared at his feral opponent and charged. He dodged the paw strike and used it as a trampoline to jump onto the giant dogs back. He charged as much charka as he could into his palm and delivered a power juuken double palm strike at the place where the necks of both heads appeared. The dog roared from pain, but Neji didn't stop, delivering a strike after a strike, until he started forming a jutsu in his palm, which other immediately recognized.

"Boy, the rasengan sure has become a popular tecknique of the Huuga clan. How troublesome" Shikamaru sighed.

"Rasengan!"

The explosion followed and when it cleared everyone saw an unconscious Kiba and Akamaru and Neji, who was barely standing up.

"The winner Huuga Neji!"


	36. Chapter 36

Chapter 36 an unexpected mission.

During the break that followed the first round of the exam Shizune approached Sakura and Anre.

"Excuse me, but Anre, Tsunade-sama requess you and your team to come see her immediately."

"But what about the exams?" Naruto protested

"I am sorry Naruto, but that is an order."

"Ok, ok." Naruto held his arms up in defence.

"You wanted to see us Hokage-sama?"

"Yes. Anre I need you and your team to check on things in the temple of fire. I have just received a word from Jiraiya that it might be under attack."

"By who?"

"No idea, but anyone who is attacking the fire temple is either powerful or….

"….. most likely powerful." Anre said.

"Any way, you leave immediately. Your mission is to investigate and help the monks in an way if needed."

"Lets go team. 10 minutes on preparations." Anre turned, his team following him out of Hokages chambers at the stadium.

"We don't know who they are, but they are ripping through our defence!"

"How many are there?"

"Two!"

"Who are they!"

"We don't know, but they are wearing black cloaks decorated with red clouds.

The grand monk's eyes widened. "Akatsuki. Sora!"

"Yes, sensei?" a boy in monk clothes approached the elder monk.

"Sora, should there be any danger for you, run."

"What?! I ain't running from these guys, whoever they are."

"Sora, that is an order!"

"But…"

"No buts!"

The boy growled, but nodded.

"Hah, this is boring Kakuzu, they are not even a worthy sacrifice for my god."

"Shut it Hidan. We have our orders. Besides, the real treat is always in the end."

"I hope you are right."

The two figures in black cloaks decorated with red couds slowly walked through the yard littered with bodies.

"Halt! You will progress no further!" Hidan and Kakuzu looked at the remaining monks led by their leader.

"Give it to us, and we will leave." Kakuzu said.

"Leave now, or die!"

"Fine, you had your chance. Hidan, perhaps that one is worthy."

"Perhaps, lets see."

Hidan charged, pulling back his three bladed scythe, but out of nowhere a wall of bugs appeared between him and his target.

"Oh, this is new."

The next second a demon shuriken blazing with lightning charka flew from the shadow straight at Hidan.

"Whoah!" the akatsuki member leaned back and saw a figure dressed in black dropping down, with a sword in hand. Hidan leaped aside to avoid the hit, but was immediately attacked again, forced to defend with his scythe.

"I'll take this one, take the other one!" Anre cried as he and hidan went fighting outside the inner courtyard.

"So, what will I be facing?" Kakuzu didn't show any emotion, but his voice told that he was amused. Instead of an answer he received an arrow that flew straight for his throat, but just in a nick of time he caught it and broke in half.

"That's it?"

That was followed by a popping sound and then hundreds of identical looking clones leapt over the wall.

"Shadow clones! And so many!" Kakuzu formed hand seals and created a powerful gust of wind, that made the front rows of the clones fall, some even popped out of existence.

That followed by Kakuzu engaging in a fierce taijutsu battle, throwing clones in every direction. In the heat of battle another arrow flew right at him out of nowhere. Kakuzu again attempted to catch it, but his fingers went straight through it.

"What!? A genjutsu?!" suddenly the real arrow became visible and Kakuzu barely managed to tilt his head. The arrow scraped his cheak instead of hitting the eye. The quik moment was enough for the clones to dogpile on the akatsuki member.

"BOOM!" the clones were sent flying into every direction. But from the sky another blonde dropped, this one wielding two kunai, aiming for the throat.

"Idiot!" Kakuzu muttered and in mid air grabbed Naruto's hands and then pierced his chest with his other hand.

"How does dieing feel?" But Naruto with a hand in his chest only grinned and suddenly turned to a swarn of insects that crawled all over Kakuzu. For a second it seemed as it all was over, until the akatsuki member began spinning creating a vortex of air around him and causing all the bugs to fall off without causing too much damage.

"Nice try. I must admit that this is far more amusing then fighting those weakling monks.

But unfourtanately I have a task to complete and you are in my way."

Kakuzu caught another arrow and dodged 5 other that were sent from different angles.

"This is getting old girl!" Kakuzu cried and threw a kunai at a tree. Second later Sakura jumped down with a bow in hand. Her other hand was using a medical jutsu to heal up a small cut on her leg.

"Finally I can see you. I like to see the face of my victim before they die."

"It seems you also like to talk a lot." A voice came from another direction.

"Ahh, you must be the shadow clone user." Kakuzu mentioned looking over Naruto. "Maybe the bug user will come out, because I don't feel like canceling out the genjutsu your female partner is using to cover him. Sakura frowned, but canceled the genjutsu revealing Shino. Since Kakuzu saw through it, it was meaningless to waste charka.

"What do you want here?" Naruto demanded.

"Hmm, I guess there is no reason not to tell you, since you wll die one way or another. We are after the power of the nine tailed fox."

"But the fox is no longer in this realm."

"Perhaps, but some of his power is still here, and we are here to claim it."

Sakura, Naruto and Shino shared a confused look.

"I see you don't understand, pity."

"Listen I don't know are you crazy or not, but we are sure stopping you. C'mon, we have to take care of this guy and go help Anre." Naruto created 10 shadow clones.

"Your teammate in black? Oh trust me, you have no chance of helping him. I think that right about now Hidan is sacrificing him to his god."

"Bastard." Sakura muttered and pulled out another arrow,

"Truth hurts, doesn't it, but enough talk!" Kakuzu went through handseals. "Spikes no jutsu!" he cried and immediately large metal spikes started to appear in every direction.

"Damn!" Naruto cried as he jumped in the air to avoid getting turned to cheese. Sakura used a substitution with a kunai that was thrown at her to get up the tree again. Shino levitated carried by his bugs.

"Guys, distract him!" Naruto cried. "I have an idea!"

Sakura and Shino nodded. Sakura began showering Kakuzu with arrows, popping all around the yard, while Shino surrounded Kakuzu in a cloud of bugs, limiting his view. Some of the arrows very fake, some were disguised explosive notes, some were bugs turned to look like arrows. All that made Kakuzu concentrate on defence. A bit away, the clones prepared to launch Naruto, that had a rasengan formed in his hand.

"Now!" he cried.

Kakuzu turned to the voice and saw the blonde flying at him at amazing speed with a jutsu in his hand that Kakuzu only heard of. In a swift motion Kakuzu stepped aside and thrust his hand forward, his palm looking like it was on fire.

"Scorch!" Naruto's rasengan missed and he got hit by Kakuzu's jutsu and… puffed out of existence.

"Rasengan!" the real Naruto cried appearing the same way from behind. Kakuzu had no time to react this time and got hit straight in the back. The force of the jutsu made his fly through the air and crash in the stairs that led to the entrance of the temple.

"Gotcha!" Naruto smiled.

"My, my, some time passed sice someone actually destroyed one of my hearts." A voice came from the dust cloud. To everyone's surprise Kakuzu walked out. His akatsuki cloak was ripped off him, revealing his chest with four strange looking masks. One had a hole in it. Then the masks began to move and finally three four strange beasts appeared from the holes in Kakuzu's body where the masks were. They looked like they were made of pure charka, masks creating sort of a face. Suddenly one of beast made a horrible sound and fell to the ground, lifeless.

"Freaky." Naruto muttered.

"Discusting.' Sakura made her comment.

"……." Shino waved his hands sending as warn of his insects at Kakzu to see what his hearts/beasts could do. One of the creatures breathed out a coud of green smoke and all the bugs immidiatley died. Shino's eyes went wide. He just lost a quarter of his bugs.

The next moment Kakuzu moved and he was now faster. Shino didn't react as he was painfully thrown aside. Sakura was knocked down. Kakuzu went for Naruto who seemed to be concentrated on something.

"Die!" Kakuzu cried, but suddenly the three beasts were blocked by nine tails made of pure charka. Naruto turned his face at Kakuzu, who saw angry slited eyes and claws of charka being formed on Naruto's hands. Kakuzu struggled to get his hearts out of the grip, but the tails held tight.

"You are a sick bastard." Naruto attacked with his clawed hands, creating six deep cuts across Kakuzus chest, making him step back. Then Naruto formed another rasengan and slammed it into one of the places the beasts were coming out from. The mask shattered and broke apart and another beast fell. That alreasy enraged Kakuzu as he fed more charka to his two remaining hearts and broke finally free. Naruto suddenly saw that Shino's bugs raised in the sky creating a shadow that ended just behind Kakuzu. Naruto grinned evading two brutal attacks that each caused a mini crater.

"Running away!?"

"Sort of. But I think you will enjoy meeting my friend!"

"Huh? AAAAARGGGHH!" Kakuzu cried in pain as two clawed hands appeared from his chest, each holding two still beating hearts. The beasts began to twitch as in pain. Kakuzu slowly turned his head and saw Anre with his dragon features.

"You?!"

"Yes, me, you friend ain't coming, as he was permanantely sent to the afterlife."

FLASHBACK

Anre and Hidan clashed together. A scythe against the sword. When they broke, Hidan was left without fingers on one hand, while Anre had a cut on his arm. Despite his wound Hidan smiled and liked the blood off his scythe.

"Time for the ritual. Jashin will be pleased" He said as a strange symbol appeared beneath him. "Ahh, the sacrifice." Hidan smiled again. Anre charged, reaching for his demon shuriken, but Hidan suddenly hit his own leg with the pointy end of his scythe, piercing it.

"rgghh." Anre clutched his leg, as there appeared the same wound. Hidan grinned and twisted his weapon, tearing up his flesh, but causing Anre the same wounds.

"You are ready to die to kill me?" Anre asked his opponent.

"Yes, though I will not actually die, because I simply can't."

"Impossible, you can't be immortal."

"I'll be the judge of that, for now, lets die…painfully." Hidan made a deep cut on his side and the same wound appeared on Anre.

"_Damn, if I attack I will die, and if I don't I will die, a no win situation. There has to be a way out …. Wait, he said a ritual and then that symbol appared_ …" Anre's mind analysed the situation trying to come up with a plan.

"Water element: water dragon no jutsu."

The ground began shaking, throwing Hidan off balance as he prepared to stab himself again. Then the half destroyed well was blown apart as a huge water dragon raised from the ground, formed from the water that was underground.

"Haha, this will be painful, Jashin will be pleased." Hidan laughed not even attempting to move as the dragon launched towards him, but instead of hitting the akatsuki member it hit the ground right in front of him, throwing him away and destroying the symbol on the ground. In mid air Hidan felt a kunai cut his cheek.

"So, it worked." Hidan heard a voice behind him and then he got impaled on Anre's drawn sword.

"Heh, so you figured it out, huh." Hidan turned around looking into Anre's now purple eyes, the sword still sticking out of his chest. "But it won't help you." Hidan raised his weapon, but Anre jumped away. Hidan then noticed ninja wire in Anre's hand, the othe end connected to the sword.

"Aggghhh!" Hidan screamed as an electrical pulse passed through it and shocked Hidan, bringing him into the world of pain. Anre then pulled the wire, ripping the sword out. Hidan still stood shaking trying to calm his screaming body. In the mean time Anre took a deep breath.

"Fire won't help you." Hidan hissed, but he didn't know how hot dragon's breath was.

The area was filled with a scream full of agonizing pain, as Hidan felt his body being burned away. A minute later he fell to the ground, still alive, even though half of his body was burned to the bone, discusting peaces of burned flesh seen on them. He tried to speak, but his lungs were completely destroyed.

"Sometimes it is preferable to die." Anre came closer, clutching his wounded leg, blood streaming through his fingers. "But you don't have that luxury. Time to pay the price of immortality." Anre took a deeper breath and reduced Hidan's body to ashes, the only things left were a half melted scythe and the ring, marking the members of the Akatsuki.

FLASHBACK END


	37. Chapter 37

Chapter 37 New teams, new missions.

"Incompetent fool." Kakuzu spat out.

Anre didn't reply. His clawed hands crushed the hearts and the charka beasts died. Kakuzu fell face down on the ground, his body having four huge holes in it.

Anre's and Naruto's charka features faded after that. Naruto simply slumped to the ground, while Shino and Sakura approached Anre who clutched his leg, after taking a ring from Kakuzu.

"Anre! Just relax, I am going to patch you up."

Sakura's hands began glowing green.

"Just stop the blood."

"But your bone is broken and.."

"There are many wounded monks around, you'll need to help them also."

"But…"

"Sakura, I'll be fine, just stop the blood, you'll be able to heal my leg later."

"Fine, but if I see you walking, I'll make sure you get hospitalized for a month."

"Yes ma'am." Anre chuckeled and saluted.

"Naruto, send a clone to the monks inside, we will need their help, and also to seal up the body of that freak." Anre pointed to the body of Kakuzu. Soon the doors to the temple's main building opened and monks began running all around the yard, looking for wounded and treating their wounds.

A minute later they were approached by by a monk, who earlier opposed Kakuzu and Hidan. He bowed to Anre and his team.

"My name is Chiriku and I am the leader of these monks. I thank you for all of us. This attack caught us unprepared I am afraid."

Anre nodded. "Chiriku-san, I am glad we could help, but lets leave the talking for later, there are things to do. Sakura here is our medic. Get those who need help most urgently to her, she will help. If you will need man power, Naruto here will be able to help with his shadow clones. Shino will help scout the area quikly. I'd help too, but I am afraid I am not capable of moving around too much. I barely made it here." Anre motioned to a bloody trail he left when he hurried back from his fight with Hidan.

"I thank you again. I gave orders to bring all our wounded to the infirmary. Sora! Please lead the Konoha medic there." A young man their age, with shoulder leght blueish hair approached Chiriku and looked at Sakura.

"Follow me." Sakura briefly looked Anre over again and left after Sora. Naruto created several clones and ran off to help the monks. Shino waited for a moment, but when Anre nodded left aswell. Chiriku called two monks, who offered their shoulderes to Anre for support and took him to the temple.

Anre was taken to the infirmary aswell. It was actually pure chaos there. He told the monks to simply put him on the chair and go help the others. The monks nodded and left. One of them passed Anre some bandages before leaving, because even without blood the wound still looked rather bad. The cut on the side didn't help either. So Anre began to bandage himself up. While being busy he saw Sakura treat those who needed her attention the most and sometimes Naruto's clones bringing in another wounded monk and then racing off, following a bug sent by Shino. After bandaging himself up Anre fell asleep, the blood loss was kicking in.

He woke up when a very tired Sakura pulled his shoulder. Next to her was Chiriku and the rest of his team. Anre also heard some moaning from the wounded monk, but in every other way it was quiet.

"Uhh, sorry, I dosed off."

"It is understandable. But we really must speak." Anre nodded and grabbed Naruto's arm, getting up. Naruto immediately offered his shoulder for support as Anre avoided stepping on his wounded leg.

"Anre, I am sorry, but I'll heal your leg tomorrow, I am at my limit." Sakura said

"Don't worry, I'll live."

Chiriku led them to his chambers which were not too far away. There Anre with a sigh of relief sat down next to Sakura.

"Chiriku-san, I hope you don't mind me asking, but why did the akatsuki members attack you?"

Chiriku lowered his eyes. "I am afraid that I can not tell you."

"Hey, that four hearted freak told us that they came here for the power of the nine tailed fox!" Naruto yelled.

"I already said that I can't talk about it, it is our secret."

"Secret or no secret, we need to know. That power is deadly, should it fall into the wrong hands. I assure you, akatsuki won't stop and we can't help if you don't tell us the truth." Anre said from his place.

"I am truly sorry, but I can't…"

"You can, if anyone has the right to know it's us, especially Naruto."

"Why is that?"

Naruto sighed and looked Chiriku straight in the eyes. "Because I am the original container for the nine tailed fox and now I am the holder of the binding contract and the only person in the world capable of summoning him."

Chiriku's eyes were threatening to pop out.

"B-but,…I-I.."

"You will tell us everything and I promise, we will help in any way we can, those are our orders."

"Fine, I'll tell you, but you must promise that only you and the hokage will know." When Anre and the other nodded Chiriku cleared his throat and began.

"Some time ago there were several elite shinobi, chosen to protect the fire daimeo. I was among them. Some of us were almost fanatical about our mission and saw hokage as a threat for the daimeo. Their leader was named Kazuma. After the fox's attack he and his followers gathered the remains of the kuubi's charka and sealed it into his only son in attempt to make him into an ultimate weapon against Konoha. The other members of the group were outraged and it all caused a fight between us. Kazuma and his followers were beaten and Kazuma himself killed by a man named Sarutobi Asuma, my friend."

"Asuma. He is right now a jounin back in Konoha."

"Yes, I know, we sometimes meet."

"What happened to the holder of Kuubi's charka?"

"We decided to keep it a secret. At that time I was chosen to lead this monastery, so I took the boy with me and raised him here. You have already met him. His name is Sora."

The story was followed by an uncomfortable silence.

"Does he himself know about his …. Condition?"

"No and I hope never will."

"It is dangerous for him here now." Anre said.

"Sadly I agree. That is the reason I actually wanted to talk to you. Could you take him to Konoha. He is quite capable in combat and will be able to serve as a shinobi."

"That is the only option we actually have left Chiriku-san. We leave as soon as possible."

"Tsunade-sama, Anre's team has returned!"

"Send them in." Anre and his team walked in, followed by Sora, who looked skeptically at Tsunade.

"Report. Why have it taken you a whole week to check the things at the fire temple?"

For an answer Anre walked forward and placed two rings on Tsunade's desk. Tsunade's eyes widened, she never expected akatsuki to be envolved in this, or she would have never sent only one team to deal with them.

"Why them?"

Anre shook his head and quikly looked at Sora.

"Hmm, Anre, stay here and give full report, others, wait outside."

When Sora and the rest of the team left Anre told everything he found out from Chiriku. He also reported details about the fight and passed the scroll with the sealed up body of Kakuzu and Hidan's scythe.

"So Chiriku wants Sora to become a Konoha shinobi."

"Yes, we figured that it was the best choice. The village hosted the carrier of the demon power once, it will manage to do it again. Besides, nobody knows about it. Even the akatsuki members didn't know which monk was the host, and Sora himself doesn't know aswell."

"I see. I'll inlist him on a genin team with Chouji, Kankoruo and Tenten under Asuma, since he knew his father. He will test his to see his capabilities. As for you, I will mark this mission as a completed S-rank. And since your team took on an S-rank criminal I will promote them to jounin. The council will most likely approve. The decidition will be known tomorrow when we will also promote genin to chunin. Dismissed."

"What about Sora's accommodation? He needs a place to stay at."

"Ughhh. I'll ask Shizune to find him an apartment. Since the sand invasion we have several free places.

"So, who do you think got promoted?" Kiba asked Shino as they entered the tower and found everyone else already assembled. Anre and the rest of his team was also there. Shino shrugged in response to his former teammate.

"Ahh, finally everyone is assembled." Tsunade said overlooking the crowd. I have good news for all of you. The council and the jounin instructors decided that all of you are to be promoted to chunin." There was a minute of silence until half of the occupants burst into cheers.

"Hah, now I'm chunin too forehead, take that." Ino smirked at Sakura.

"And another thing. Sakura, Naruto and Shino are to be promoted to jounin for defeating an S-rank missing nin." Now there were some applause and a petrified Ino looking at a smirking sakura who only winked at her friend. Then the jounins started giving their students chunin vests. Some put them on, while others just held in hand, like Gaara.

"As you know we now form stable four man teams from newly promoted jounin and chunin, you will be no exeption. Uchiha Sasuke, Huuga Hinata, Momochi Haku and Subaku no Gaara are one team. Subaku no Temari, Yamanako Ino, Inuzuka Kiba and Huuga Neji will be another. Lee, you are to remain training under Gai and will join other teams on missions, same as Shikamaru Nara who is currently working at our strategy squad. That was the only 'not so troublesome' work for him. The leader of the first team will be Sasuke, the second Neji. Chouji, Kankoruo, Tenten you will form a new genin team under Asuma. You will meet your fourth teammate tomorrow.

"Fourth?" Asuma lit up a cigarette.

"Yes, fourth. His name is Sora and up until now was a monk in the fire temple. Now, where was I, ahh… You have two weeks to get to work with each other. You may want to ask members of Anre's team for advices and to share their experience. Now that you don't have jounin senseis, you have to think what to train, how to train, and how to complete missions. Everyone dismissed except Sasuke. Your team can wait outside."

The ninjas bowed and left the hokage tower, Gai and Lee hugging each other and crying out their names, as they were still a student and a sensei.

"What did you want to speak with me about, hokage-sama?" Sasuke asked.

"Umm, well, it concernes your clan." Sasuke's face darkened.

"What is it?"

"In your clan, there was a tradition to present the members of the clan that achived a chunin rank with this." Tsunade pulled out a large scroll.

"A scroll? What is it? A jutsu or what?"

"hmmm, I could tell you, but I won't. Ask Anre, he is good at these sort of things."

Sasuke took the scroll and examined it. There was a seal that didn't allow Sasuke to open it and just below it was a Uchiha crest.

"Thank you Tsunade-sama, should I return it later?"

"No, it belongs to you. I only waited until you became chunin to uphold your clan tradition."

"Thank you." Sasuke bowed down.

The next day the new teams and Anre's team met at the training grounds.

"So, you wanted to see us, Sasuke?" Anre asked looking around.

"We did. We talked and decided to use hokage's advice. We want you four to help us getting our teams working."

Naruto suddenly chocked. "Whaaaat? Sasuke asked for help?" he managed to mutter.

"Dobe."

"Teme."

"Quiet." Anre hissed and Naruto immediately stiffened up. Following Anre's orders was in his blood now and that impressed the new chunins.

"So what exactly do you want, we are not experts at teaching and stuff." Sakura said.

"Just an advice will do." Neji crossed his arms.

"Ummm, well you know that in our team everyone has a role and is an expert in a certain field. That makes our team strong all around, so I guess…."

"We should decide who does what." Sasuke finished for Anre. "That is a good idea. This way we will also find out what to work on."

"Great, well good luck guys." Anre's team turned around.

"Anre, could you stay for some time, I need to ask you something Sasuke jumped in front of them.

"Sure. You guys go on, we have free time, so do whatever you like. Sakura, I'll pick you up at the hospital then in the evening." Naruto and Shino nodded and jumped away, after Naruto hugged Hinata goodbye. Sakura gave Anre a peck on the cheek earning a jealous glance from Ino and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"So, what is it?" Anre turned to Sasuke and saw him holding a large scroll.

"This belongs to my clan, what is it?"

Anre took the scroll, while the others gathered around.

"Hmm, seems like a summoning scroll, but I won't be able to open it, there is a blood seal on it, so Sasuke if you want to open it, just rub some blood on the seal. Once it is done I will be able to tell a contract with who it is."

Sasuke nodded and bit his thumb. Once he rubbed some blood on the seal it disappeared and Anre unrolled it on the ground..

"Heh, well congratulations Sasuke, it is indeed the summoning contract with panthers."

The group was silent looking at the scroll.

"Cool." Kiba muttered, backed up by Akamaru.

"How do I sign it?"

"Simple, write your name in your blood." Anre unrolled the scroll further, revealing a name after a name of the uchihas, finally coming to the last one, Uchiha Itachi. That name made Sasuke scowl, but he silently bit his thumb and sighned the contract. After that the scroll rolled itself back up and the seal appeared again.

"Whoah." Haku placed her hand on Sasuke's shoulder who was still looking at the scroll.

"So how does it work?" Sasuke finally asked.

"Well, now you should be able to summon panthers, if you want I can demonstrate on my summons."

"Ok, everyone, back up." Sasuke raised his voice, soon there was enough room for Anre to proceed.

"Ok, to summon you have to offer your blood as a sacrifice and then do the needed hand seals and press your hand on the surface where you want the summon to appear. You can use a tattoo like me and Naruto, but since you haven't got one, I'll work with seals." Anre bit his thumb.

"Summoning jutsu!"

In a puff of smoke an elephant sized dragon appeared.

"Greetings summoner, I honor the contract." The dragon bowed and remained standing stoically.

"Honor to see you again Voranan." Anre smiled. "Everyone, meet the son of the dragon boss summon Dalamar, Voranan."

"Greetings friends of the summoner, I bow before you from the name of the dragonkin." The dragon bowed again.

"Ehhh, hi." The others waved back at the dragon. Neji and Hinata bowed before the great beast. Being a Huuga demanded to uphold the proper etiquette.

"Summoner, what do you ask of me."

"Oh, nothing Voranan, you can return back, it is just one of my friends is learning to summon and he asked for a demonstration."

"I see. Very well, until we meet again. Farewell friends of the summoner." The dragon disappeared in a puff os smoke.

"Why does he call you summoner?" Haku asked after a minute, during which they were under the impression of meeting and talking to the great serpent.

"Because that is who I am to them. The dragons are rather strict when it comes to proper behaviour and politness. Being called a summoner is like adding a suffix 'dono' to the name. It is also that we respect each other. Your summons might not be as polite, Sasuke."

"So they like really respect you?" Ino asked.

"Yes. As I respect them, now why not let Sasuke try, I've never met a panther." Anre smirked under his mask.

"Ok." Sasuke took a deep breath and bit his finger.

"Summoning jutsu!"

There was a puff of smoke and everyone raised their heads expecting a huge beast, but instead…..

"Meow?" a faint sound came from below and when a smoke cleared everyone saw a small, almost newborn kitten of the panther. Sasuke sweatdropped, this was totally not what he expected.

"Awww, how cute!" the girls began petting the kitten.

"Hahahahahaha." Anre burst out laughing. "Sorry Sasuke, but that is something I'd expect from Naruto. Hahaha." Others joined in laughing, or giggleing.

"Ok, ok, I get it." Sasuke dismissed the kitten letting it return to wherever it came from.

"What I did wrong?"

"Basically nothing, you did summon a panther, sort of."

"I don't think a kitten will help me in battle!" Sasuke yelled.

"Pump in more chackra and you will get a bigger and more powerful member of the summon kind."

"Ok, lets see." Sasuke repeated the process and pumped the amount of chackra need for a chidori.

"Raaaaagh!" came a roar from the smoke. "Who summoned me!" came a feminine voice from the cloud.

"I, Uchiha Sasuke did."

Out of the smoke a huge panther came out, as high as Sasuke.

"A Uchiha? Yes, I see that." The giant cat's eyes scanned Sasuke. "It has been some time since a Uchiha sighned the contract. Very well, I will uphold the tradition. My name is Feliana."

"Sasuke."

"Ok, Uchiha Sasuke, I will see you on the battlefield, as will others of my kind." The panther puffed away.

"Well, that wasn't so bad."

"I wonder what does the boss summon look like." Sasuke said curiously looking at the spot where the panther just was.

"I have no idea, you'll see when you summon him, or her. Now that it is done, anything else before I leave?" Anre readjusted his shoulderpad.

"No, and thanks."

"Ok, see you later." Anre disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"So, what now?" Ino asked.

"Isn't it obvious, we decide on our roles in the team and what to train on." Neji pointed out.

"I agree with the Huuga." Gaara spoke up for the first time.

Two weeks later they all were again assembled. Sasuke was rather glad with the way his team turned out to be. One, there was Haku on his team, two, Hinata who he respected greatly, though Naruto once caught him up in the street and asked to keep an eye for her, just in case. Sasuke didn't object as he considered doing the same if haku turned out to be on another team. Three, Gaara, not the most social person, but he wouldn't annoy him. In other words his team was made of good shinobi and wasn't annoying. Neji wasn't as happy. He almost missed Lee's cryes about flames of youth, because Ino's constant gossip was even worse. Neji agreed with Sasuke that Kiba was even more annoying then Naruto to be around. The only person tolerable was Temari. But when it came to combat Neji had to admit they performed well together. Tenten and Chouji were not the most happy people also. They didn't have anything against each other, or Kankoruo, who was rather fun to be around, but their new teammate, Sora, was sometimes a real ass. Once when Anre's team came to pay them a visit at the training he got in a fight with Naruto, after insulting him. Sora turned out to be a capable fighter, but Naruto was aswell, especially when he multiplied himself into a hundred. Though Tenten passed it on the fact that being raised in a temple with monks wasn't the best way to teach a person to socialize. The happiest person in the room was Lee. In chunin vest he was almost an exact copy of Gai.

"So, everyone here? Good. Well, time to work again and I have several good missions to test you out." Tsunade started. "Sasuke, your team will get an A-rank mission to protect a famous actress Fudzikase Yuki. She will soon travel to the land of snow, so that is where you will be going. They also asked for a genin team to help protect the staff, so Asuma's team goes aswell."

"Fudzikase Yuki? The one playing Princess Fuun?" Ino asked with a gleam in her eyes.

"Yes, she…."

"Awww, how come they get such a mission. Haku, can you get me her autograph. Please?"

Haku sweatdropped, while Neji rolled his eyes.

"Ahem." Tsunade coughed. "Now, Neji you will get a B-rank mission with a possibily to become A-rank. Our allies, the sand, informed us that there was an attack on their coastlines. Their defenses were overwhelmed, but the attacking forced is now headed in the fire country direction. I want you to scout and find out who they are and what they want. Lee will go with you."

"Yes! Such a youthful mission!" Gai and Lee said in unison. Neji looked sick. Ino plus Lee plus Kiba equals hell.

"Anre, since your team is the most experiencd here and consists of jounin you will get an S-rank mission to protect the prince of the moon country. He is currently on vacation, traveling around the world. The randevouz point with his caravan is on the border of the Aka desert." Anre nodded and took a scroll with a map.

"Well what are you all waiting for?" Tsuande smirked and all the shinobi immediately left the office.


	38. Chapter 38

Chapter 38. Mission to the moon country. Part 1.

"Boy I am glad we all have this special clothes." Naruto smiled. "I remember our trip through the desert back at the sand chunin exams." The others could only nod. Sakura actually had her since then as it was Anre who bought her the outfit she was wearing.

"So, when will we be at the randevous point?" Sakura asked.

"We are almost there." Anre replied looking over the map.

"I see something ahead." Shino's as always quiet voice came. Others looked ahead and indeed saw a caravan in the distance.

"Whoah. To who belongs all this stuff?" Naruto said scratching his head as the four shinobi observed a seemingly endless caravan.

"That is all mine." Came a voice from behind. The shinobi turned around and saw a very fat person, squesing out of a very expensive carriage. He was dressed in expensive blue and whire robes. "So many thing might become necessary, so I buy things I need in the countries and thus my caravan is already this long." He continued approaching the shinobi. "I am Tsuki Michiru, the prince of the moon country and you are?"

Anre stepped forward. The picture of an armed to the teeth, dressed in black ninja who's eyes weren't even seen made the prince start sweating a bit.

"Greeting. We are the Konoha shinobi you hired to escort you. I am the team's captain Rakizi Anre. Behind me are Haruno Sakura, Aburame shino and Uzumaki Naruto."

"Great, great, I am counting on you guys." He smiled and suddenly approached Sakura and gave her his hand as a greeting. Sakura being polite, especially before royalty gave her, but instead of a shake he sturted rubbing it. Naruto's eye began to twich as he imagined the guy doing that to Hinata. Sakura though just smiled and channeled some charka into her hand. Michuru quikly jumped back rubbing his hand as he felt an unpleasant sensation in his hand. That was actually the simplest genjutsu, sakura didn't hurt him for real.

"She is a very capable fighter Michuru-sama …… and my fiancée." Anre mentioned matter of factly. The prince after that backened away a bit sweating like after running a marathon.

"Ummmm. Ok, glad to meet you, hope you will do a good job." Suddenly an arrow flew form behind him aimimg for a chuckeling Naruto, whu just tilted his head. At the door of the carriage was standing a boy with a toy bow, whose eyes were wide open behind his glasses. He clearly didn't expect someone to avoid the shot like not even noticing.

"Ahh, this is my son, Hikaru. Escuse him he just really likes fireing his bow at anything that moves."

"No offence taken Michuru-sama." Anre waved off. "Now we will begin doing our job."

"Certanly. You may do what you see fit as long as it doesn't bother or slow down the caravan." Michuru said and returned to the carriage with his son.

"Naruto, Sakuta, the back of the caravan. Shino and me will take the fron, next to the prince's carriage.

The trip continued without much commotion. During the day there was a single attack from the bandits, that ended up in around 20 corpses all filled with arrows or kunai. Noone even considered using a jutsu on these lowly thugs. The evening went peacefully. The prince and his son ate meals prepared by their personal shefs, while the ninjas ate their own supplyes. They also spent some time by the campfire with the staff, sharing the food they had. The next day the caravan finally left the desert and now was traveling on the grassy plain. Prince Michiru started to question Anre about Konoha, since he was walking next to the carriage.

"What is Konoha like?"

"Konoha? It is the biggest and most powerful ninja village currently. Thus it is rather big. It is really not a village, but a big town, with hundreds of shinobi and thousands of simple civilians. It a beautiful and peaceful place."

"Is there much to see?" Michuru asked with a gleam in his eyes.

"Yes, I suppose. The hokage mountain for instance."

"Why is it called like that?"

"Well, because it is a mountain overlooking the village and has the faces of all hokages carved in it."

"Wow. And the hokage, he is the ruler of the village."

"Yes, in a way."

"So, he has a son? The one who will inherit his place?"

"The current hokage is a kunoichi named Tsunade, one of the legendary sannin and she doesn't have children, atleast none I know of. As for inheritance, the position of the hokage is not passed from parent to children. After the present hokage is no longer able to carry out his duties, he or if he dies the council, chooses the successor. It should be a very powerful shinobi, yet completely dedicated to the village. Being a hokage, means to be ready to sacrifise your life for the village, like the fourth did."

"woah, amazing."

"We consider that trait necessary for any great leader."

"I see." The last comment somehow made Michuru go silent.

"I can't believe he bought the whole circus." Sakura said looking how the prince was writing down a check.

"He is rich, what can I say." Anre shrugged.

Suddenly ther was a mighty roar. Then everyone saw Naruto jump into the air holding someone in his hands. When he landed everyone saw that it was Hikaru.

"What happened?" Michuru rushed to his son.

"He tried to pet the tiger." Naruto answered. "I was forced to take action to make sure Hikaru-san wouldn't get hurt."

"I am truly sorry your highness. Cham isn't the friendliest being in the world. I'll make sure he will be locked up." The manager of the circus said with a servant like smile. Michuru only nodded looking over his son.

"Could've atleast say thanks." Naruto grumbled when the royalty left.

"Don't let it get to you. The kid is spoiled." Anre said. "lets go, we shouldn't let them out of our sight."

The next week of travel was rather uneventful, until the caravan made it to the port, from which they would take a ferry to the cresent island. There the shinobi witnessed how the prince came to his wife, that as they understood, left him some time ago. She was delighted to see Hikaru, but didn't even recognize Michuru at first as he obviously gained some weight from their last conversation. One way or another his wife still refused to return with him, he still couldn't understand why.

The prince later threw a party on the ferry to get rid of sadeness. During the feast Hikaru wandered off again to see the sabertooth tiger from before, he was still fascinated by a powerful animal and wanted to be friends with him. But when he came closer the tiger only growled at him.

"Why? What am I doing wrong. I own you for crying out loud." Hikaru yelled at the tiger and a small monkey Kiki, that was the only living being feeling comfortable around the mighty animal.

"Because he doesn't respect you. The fact that you bought him means little to him." Hikaru turned around and saw Anre. He slowly approached the cage and helled out a hunk of meat. To Hikaru's surprise the tiger slowly came closer and took the meat from the hand that was held through the bars. Anre took the opportunity to pet the giant cat.

"How?" Hikaru looked amazed.

"Cham is an animal, not a video game you keep playing." Anre pointed at a videopad that Hikaru had in his pocket. "He is a living being, with his own feelings. He has his own sence of pride. He has a mind. Thus he won't let you near him, until he will be able to respect you and trust you."

"But he let you come close and even touch him."

"Yes, he did. He respects those who are more powerful then him, yet he sences that I mean no harm. I, the being that could defeat him, have shown a mark of good will by bringing him food. Thus he respects me and feels that I wish no harm. You on the other hand see him as a toy that can be thrown out. If you don't respect and honor him, why should he?"

"But I bought him, I am a prince."

"What does money mean to him? What does title meant to him? Nothing. Cham was born wild and stripped of his freedom. But he still has his pride, the pride of a free, strong animal, that should be feared. And you do fear him, prince."

"So what do I do? I bough him hoping to befriend him."

"Then befriend him. Prove to him that you are worthy of his friendship, because he doesn't have to prove anything to you."

"How do I do that?"

"You figure it out, I am just a shinobi payed to protect you. That's it."

"Then why are you telling me all of this?"

"In order to keep you from getting ripped to shreads." Anre shrugged and scratched the tiger behind the ear. The giant cat purred, enjoying the hands movements.

That night the storm broke loose upon the ferry, making the boat rise and fall on the giant waves. The animal in the cages placed on the deck screamed and roared in fear.

"How can we help?" Anre ansed the captain of the ferry.

"Help the staff of the circus, then some of my men will be able to help me keep this boat floating." Anre nooded and gave every member of his team some ninja wire to secure the cages. Sakura started using genjutsu on animal to calm them down, while the others with the help from the circus staff secured the cages. Big animals, whose cages were too heavy had to be taken downstairs and here Sakura's skill were priceless.

Suddenly Anre saw Hikaru making his way to the cage with the tiger. The giant waves often flooded the cage and the animal with his little monkey friend were completely soacked. Hikaru finally made it to the cage door and started opening it, to let the animal get to safety. Finally the lid opened and the tiger walked out, looking strangely at the boy. In that particular moment a very big wave hit the ship and Hikaru flew overvoard, but was suddenly caught by someone. When the frightened boy looked up he saw that Cham actually caught him and was now balancing on the side of the ship. Before the next wave hit the side of the ferry they both were pulled back by Naruto and several clones. When the adrenalin finally left his system and fear went away Hikaru fell asleep almost instantly.


	39. Chapter 39

Chapter 39. Mission to the moon country. Part 2.

"Hmmm, strange, this street is usually very busy. Where is everyone?" Prince Michuru looked around. His son was riding on Cham beside the carriage. After the storm the great beast acknowledged the boy and eventually they became almost inseperatable.

Anre after hearing the prince's concerne showed his team to be on alert.

Finally they made it to the palace. The court yard was empty, nobody came to welcome the prince. Michuru walked out of the carriage and looked around puzzled. Finally a figure on the balcony appeared.

"Shabadaba. I am glad to see you. Where is father and everyone. Didn't you receive my message?"

"We did."

"Shabadaba, where is my father?"

"The king is dead!" the man at the balcony raised he hands in triumph.

"Shabadaba…."

"And you, Michuru, are the last thing between me and the throne."

Shabadaba waived his hands and lots of soldiers surrounded the carriage.

"Your majesty, get into the carriage." Anre whispered. "Hikaru-san, you too. Cham can ride on the roof." The boy nodded and got off the tiger who jumped on to the roof.

"Kill Michuru and all that are with him!" Shabadaba ordered and the soldiers charged.

"Naruto." Anre said. Naruto grinned and made a cross shaped seal.

"Shadow clones jutsu!" in a puff of smoke the carriage was surrounded by a thick circle of blonde shinobi, each wielding two kunai. The surprised soldiers stopped.

"If you don't come at us, then we will come at you." The clones said in unison and charged. The soldiers began flying in every direction as the clones began ripping their way through their ranks. Sakura started supporting them with arrows, while Shino made his bugs form a defencive perimeter around the carriage. Anre pulled out his demon shuriken and threw it at Shabadaba, who was just in time pulled out of the way by a man with a blank forehead protector. The shuriken crushed through the railing and made a column behind it collaple. After that the weapon returned to Anre, who caught it and placed behind his back again.

"Mercenary ninja. Lets get out of here, the prince's safety comes first!" Anre ordered. Naruto quikly formed hand seals.

"Wind element. Breath of the beast no jutsu!" a powerful gust of wind knocked the soldiers away from the path and knocked down the now closed gate. The carriage instantly began moving away. The shinobi quikly moving after it.

"Ishidate! Stop them!" Shabadaba cried. The ninja that earlier saved his life jumped down and soon was joined by a muscely man and a young looking girl. They ran after the carriage, but their way was blocked by a wall of bugs.

"ewww." The girl declared.

"Water element. Water dragon no jutsu!" they heard a voice, juts before one of the fountains was destroyed due to a huge water dragon rising from it. It crashed into the ground where the enemy shinobi were standing. The soldiers were sent flying in every direction, some dead. The mercenary ninjas raised from the ground, after barely avoiding the strike.

"Who are these guys?" the one called Ishidate asked himself.

"Hurry, the prince is in danger!" a huge armoured carriage rode towards the palace. Suddenly a loud 'BOOM' was heard from the direction of the palace. That followed by a royal carriage pass the armoured one, heading in the opposite direction.

"That's the prince! Quikly turn around!"

Suddenly a figure in black landed on the roof of the carriage next to a man with short black hair.

"Who are you!"

"We are loyalists, here to help our prince!" the man answered, obviously being the leader of the group. Anre studied hism for a while, then nodded.

"I am the captain of the shinobi team, hired to protect the prince. We have just escaped the ambush at the palace."

"Is the prince alright?"

"Yes, but we don't know the terrain too well. Do you know where we can hide the price to ensure his safety."

"Yes, I can show they way."

"Good." Anre grabbed the man and in one jump made it to the roof of the royal carriage next to Cham. The sabertooth tiger at first freaked the loyal soldier out, but after Anre said that it was safe he relaxed and started directing the way to the safety.

"We are here." The carriages stopped at a small clearing in the woods next to a cliff wall that had an entrance to a cave in it.

"Where is my father?" Michuru demanded getting out of the carriage. The captain of the loyalist's whose name was Korega, explained that during the attack on the palace the king was hit by a powerful jutsu and now was dieing.

When they entered the cave they saw an elderly, yet well toned man on the ground, surrounded by several soldiers. The prince and his son hurried to the prone king, but were beat to him by Sakura. She saw that the jutsu the king was hit by, was slowly turning him into stone, the picture was not pretty. Sakura ran a diagnostic jutsu and the rubbed her temples.

"Well?" Michuru looked hopefully at Sakura.

"It is bad. The jutsu can be reverted, but at this stage it will take much time and charka. I will have to run the jutsu for several hours non stop and I haven't got enough charka for it.

"But there is something that can be done?"

"why not use my charka? Can you do it Sakura?" Naruto stood up looking determined.

"It is worth a try. You do have an immence charka pool."

"Do it, if needed I will help also." Anre said.

"Then we will try." Sakura then turned to the soldiers. "I need water, lots of it and you will have to work constantly to change it, I can't break the jutsu to do it. So once I say it, there has to be new fresh water. Got it?"

"Yes ma'am!" the soldiers saluted and ran off. They soon were back with a bucket full of water and another for a spare. The captain began to organize them into squads for bringing water. Naruto stationed behing Sakura and started feeding his charka into her, ever so slowly.

Sakura reached out for the water with one hand and towards the turned to stone part of the king with another, her hands glowing green. Suddenly a thin stream of water went from the bucket along Sakuras hands to the king. The water then formed a thin layer around the king. With wide eyes the soldiers and the prince with his son watched as the water quikly began to turn brown.

"Next!" Sakura said, getting the now dirty water into the bucket. The soldiers immediately exchanged the bucket and sakura continued the process. At the same time two soldiers were returning with another bucket of fresh water.

Two hours later Sakura began to get tired, while the work was only half done. She felt something crawl up her kneck.

"Relax, the saliva of these bugs will give you a boost of energy." She heard Shino's voice and didn't even flitch when she was bitten.

The king's skin began turning back to normal. The people now understood that Sakura was actually pulling the stone into the water, like pulling out poison.

Two more hours later Sakura already began feeling very tired. The boost t of energy Shino's bugs gave her began to wear off. Naruto also looked beat, as he fed most of his charka into Sakura already. Soon Anre took his place. When Naruto left he immediately fell asleep.

An hour later the king's skin already looked almost normal and the water began to return less dirty, until finally it returned crystal clear.

"Done." Sakura said before collapsing back onto Anre. He leaned back on the stone wall and let her sleep on his chest. The soldiers around wanted to cheer, when they understood that the king would be alright, but Korega stopped the motioning at Sakura sleeping on Anre's chest, who also looked tired, but was awake, looking at a peacefully sleeping girl in his arms.

"You did it." He whispered in her ear. Sakura smiled and stirred a little. The soldiers left the cave, leaving only the king and his family and the shinobi inside.

Sakura woke after several hours of deep sleep. She felt her body was still rather tired, but it was nothing special.

"good morning." She heard behind her and noticed that she was sleeping on Anre's chest.

"ahh, the best pillow." She slumped back again, knocking some air out of Anre.

"Hey, not so rough."

"can't help it."

"you did great yesterday."

"We all did." Sakura smiled and got up. She saw the king sleeping on his bed, so she ran a diagnostic jutsu over him again.

"So, how is it?" she heard the voice from the entrance. It was Michiru along with Hikaru.

"He will be fine. He will wake up in a few hours, though he will not be able to properly use the part of his body that was turned to stone for a week or so."

Michiru breathed out in relief. "I thank you, not only for my father, but for tis country aswell. Yesterday I understood that I am not ready to take the crown and lead my people." He then turned to Anre. "You once told me, that a great leader should be ready to sacrifice himself for his people. I don't know if I can."

"A person able to admit that is more than ready." Anre answered.

Michuru thought for a moment and nodded. "Perhaps you are right, as for me…." He looked over himself. "…it is time to get in shape."

Michuru left the cave after looking once more at his peacefully sleeping father. Hikaru on the other hand came closer and sat down next to him. A minute later Cham entered and layed down behind him. Anre and Sakura left the cave after that. Shino was gone in the morning to look for local bugs, while naruto was spaprring with his clones outside. Being the bundle of energy he always was, he was running around the second he got up.

Anre startred cleaning and sharpening his weapons, while Sakura went to the military medic in the camp. She noticed that there were several hundred people in this secluded camp and most likely their numbers were constantly growing. The soldiers smiled at her, some even saluted her as she walked through the camp.

"Excuse me." Sakura entered a small tent that had a red cross on it. Inside was a man with a short fuzzy beard.

"yes.. oh, you are that medic ninja that helped the king. Honor to meet you, is there any way I can help you?"

"Yes, since this is the medical tent, there are supposed to be healing herbs here."

"yes, certainly. I managed to get here most of my supplies. Here."

The man opened the large box and shoved Sakura that there were many dried plants inside, each labeled.

"Perfect, there is everything I need." Sakura pulled out several plants.

"You can use my equipment if you wish."

"Thank you, I wouldn't want to unseal mine." Sakura smiled and began working.

"What are you doing by the way?"

"Just a potion to help the king get over the effect of the jutsu. His musceles are weakened after being turned to stone. It is the same as if he didn't move for several months."

"I see. Would you please be so kind to leave me a recipe, it might help me later."

"Certanly, this one is of no secret." Sakura took a slip of paper and wrote down a simple recipe. The military medic quikly pocketed it.

"Sakura, the king is awake." Anre told Sakura as she returned to the cave.

"Good, may I look at him?" sakura gave Anre a small bottle that she brought.

When she looked at the king she saw two bright eyes looking at her happily.

"You must be that medic that saved me." He said weakly.

"Not me alone, our whole team did. Without them I wouldn't have been able to pull of the tecknique."

"Then I thank you all. I already didn't hope to see my grandson and my son again."

"you are most welcome your majesty, how do you feel."

"good, but weak."

"Yes, that is understandable. Most likely your body will not function properly for some time. I made something that will help you recover quiker." Sakura took the bottle from Anre and poured green liquid into a small cup. The king flitched, but drank it all.

"ghh."

"Sorry if it is bitter."

"No worry, I never came across a good tasting medicine."

Sakura laughed a bit, agreeing with the king. And then poured some tea into the cup. The tea was earlier brought by one of the soldiers, after Michuru found out that his father was awake. He himself came also for a minute to make sure his father was really ok, but then left. The current situation demanded his presence with the commanding officers who were planning on taking back the city and the palace.

"Ahh, that's better." The king said as the tea made the bitter taste from the medicine go away.

Anre and his team minus Sakura who left with the king entered the big tent in the middle of the camp. There a military meeting was taking place, the main question was when and how to counterattack.

Korega was standing next to a map of the city and surrounding area.

"We have to hit fast and hard. Straight into the heart of the enemy." He pointed at the royal palace."

"The problem is that we have to go through the city itself, which will be heavily guarded. We need to somehow pierce the defence, and advance before they will be able to regroup. If we act swiftly, we will rip the heart out of the beast."

"So, the main question is how we pierce the defence." Michuru concluted.

"Yes your highness, I am still working on that…."

"Leave that part to me and Naruto, we will punch through." Anre stepped forward.

"You sure? I mean I know you are strong shinobi, but there will be thousands of enemyes."

"I am sure, besides, once we get to the palace we will face those ninjas Shabadaba hired, and it takes a shinobi to deal with one."

Korega nodded, but still looked skeptical.

"We will do as they say." Michuru said.

"Your highness, are you sure?"

"I know we can trust these people."

"Yes, your highness."


	40. Chapter 40

Chapter 40 Mission to the moon country. Part 3.

"We are here!" Korega whispered to Anre as they and the loyalist army made it to the outskirts of the city. They could see that the city was indeed heavily defended. The enemy army created a strond defencive perimeter around the city.

"Then it is our move. Tell your men to back away." Anre then turned to Naruto, who nodded. They both rolled up their sleeves and bit their thumbs.

"SUMMONING JUTSU!" in a series of smoke explosions several dozen of dragons and foxes appeared, all the sizes from and elephant, to a small house. The foxes all had from 3 to 4 tails.

"Summoners, whe honor the contract!" they all said in unison.

Anre and Sakura jumped on the back of the nearest dragon, while Naruto and Shino mounted the nearest fox.

"Storm the city, but try not to damage it. Kill if only a must. Our target the palace. Those soldiers who wear red bandanas are our allies. Charge!" Anre pulled out his sword. Sakura behind him readied the bow. The dragons raised into the air and flew forward, raining fire on the defenders. By the time the foxes got to the front lines the Soldiers were already ready to run.

"SHADOW CLONE JUTSU!" the next second all foxes had a squad of clones on their back, showering the panicking defenders in shuriken, aiming for the legs and other non vital areas.

Korega struggled to pull his jaw up. The four shinobi were practically annihilating the enemy army. Their own forces were barely keeping up, only tieing up the rebel soldiers who were glad to give up.

At the palace Shabadaba stood on the balcony, pale as a ghost.

"Impossible." He mumbled looking how his forces were torn apart. The giant beasts were already progressing through the city streets barely facing any resistance.

"Shabadaba, we didn't sign up to this!" the leader of the mercenary shinobi yelled at the man.

"I payed, so you have to fight!"

"No way are we going against those guys. I felt something strange the first time we met. They are monsters! No money in the worls will convince us to take this fight. We are leaving."

"You can't!"

"We can. You hired us to take power over the moon country, and you did. Your own problem if you can't keep it in your hands."

Suddenly with a crash, raising a cloud of dust a dragon landed in the yard. Then a fox jumped over the wall, stopping next to the great lizard. Two arrows flew through the air and two elite soldiers fell to the ground with arrows in their throats. Both Shabadaba and mercenary ninjas found themselves surrounded by blonde shinobi's, some keeping the rest of the guards away, some ready to attack. Above them was a cloud of buzzing insects.

"Give up, we will not offer this again." Anre spoke from the dragon's back, which was on the same level as the balcony. He then turned to the mercenary ninjas.

"Don't look at us. We furfilled our task and now are leaving, we have no more business in this country."

"Ishidate, you traitor!" but the leader of the ninjas ignored the insult. "We will leave and not return, I swear. We have no quarrel with you."

"I guess this is acceptable." Anre lowered his sword. "Leave now and nobody will follow. If we find any sighn of you still being present on this island, you will be terminated."

"You won't find any sighn. Kongo, Karenbana. We are leaving." The trio left the palace and disspapeared into the woods, after Naruto's clones let them pass. That scene made all the soldiers around drop their weapons. Then in a flash Shabadaba found himself tied with up with ninja wire.

"You lost." Anre pointed his sword at the man's chin, making him swallow any objections he had.

"SHABADABA!" Michuru stormed into the throne room, where Anre and his team kept the tied up traitor.

"Michiru, please, I beg you." The sight of a man begging was pathetic.

"You traitor! If it was for me to decide you would be feeding sharks by tomorrow morning." Michuru was really enraged. Even Hikaru sitting on Cham's back has never seen his father so mad.

"W-what do you mean you can't decide?" Shabadaba asked with hope in his eyes.

"Because that right belongs to me." Two soldiers carried the old king into the throne room on a stretcher.

"It can't be, you are dead."

"I am quite alive, and still a king and I will judge you Shabadaba. And I won't be merciful." The king finished after a pause, his eyes cold and merciless. Shabadaba shivered under the gaze of an old king. "Take him away."

Two soldiers dragged the would be ruler away. The king was then placed on his throne. After that everyone in the room kneeled before him. As before the real king. Anre and his team gave polite bows, because shinobi kneeled only before their kages.

"Today is the day of great victory for our people. The userper was thrown down and we are free once more!" the soldiers cheered and they cheeres were soon picked up by those in the court yard, then in the streets and finally by the citizens of the town. Unexpectedely in some parts of the town fireworks began.

"Tomorrow will be a busy day, much has to be repaired." The king nodded to his son who proved he could be trusted with the country one say and now would be his right hand. "As for our friends and heroes…" the king motioned to the shinobi. "… they will be rewarded as heroes should. I thank you, for myself, my family and my people." The old king bowed as much as he could and soon every one in the hall bowed down before the shinobi showing them both their respect and graditude.

The ceremony where the king officially thanked Anre's team for their help was held a day before their departure, which happened two weeks after the battle, due to the fact that the ferry routs had to be reopened after the crisis. Anre and his team took the time to have a sort of a short vacation. When would they get a chance to enjoy the beach again they didn't know, so they took the maximum of the opportunity. The ceremony itself took place on the towns main squere. On a constructed podium the king and his son awarded the shinobi with the highest mark of honor in their country and announced that a memorial would be built. That followed by firewors and an all around feast.

The next day Anre and his team were already on the ferry heading for the mainland. They all were waving back to the crowd that came to see them leave. Among the people on shore they saw the king, prince Michiry, Hikaru riding Cham and captain Korega. They all wished them good luck on their journey. The shinobi waved back, wishing for their country to prosper.


	41. Chapter 41

Chapter 41. Happy birthday.

"So, it turned put to be a bit more complicated." Tsunade concluded after hearing ouy the report.

"A bit!? We ended up in the middle of the civil war!" Naruto exploded.

"So? You handled it ok. Now we have good relationship with one of the richest countryes there is."

"Yeah, but still …"

"Oh, just let it slide Naruto." Sakura prepared to give him his usual bump on the head. The gesture immidiately made Naruto go silent.

"Fine, now that it is settled you can go receive your payment. I think you would also be interested in the fact that the others have also returned."

"Success?" Shino suggested.

"Yes, now dissapear, I have work to do." Tsunade smirked thinking of a bottle of sake in her drawer.

Hinata and Naruto decided to celebrate the missions sucsess with ramen. Naturally it was Naruto's idea, but Hinata agreed, seeing as Naruto didn't have his favourite food for quite some time now. At the ramen stand they saw Gaara, who was a common customer now.

"Hey Gaara, nice to see you." Gaara only nodded in response as his mouth was full of ramen.

"What can I get you and your lady, Naruto?" Ayame asked.

"Pork, for a start!" Naruto yelled grinning.

"I'll have miso." Hinata said.

"Coming right up."

Soon two steaming bowls were placed before the two. Gaara already had a small stock of empty bowls next to him.

"I see you took a liking to ramen Gaara-san." Hinata looked over the stack.

"Yes, it satisfies me." Gaara said, finally breaking away from the dish for a second.

"So I see." Hinata shook her head.

"Hey look, it's Naruto and Hinata. Oh, and Gaara's here too." Sakura's voice came from behind. The next minute she and Anre took a seat on the other side of Gaara.

"So, how did your mission to the snow coumtry go?" Anre asked while waiting for his order of beef ramen.

"Complicated." Gaara answered and dug into another bowl. Sakura and Anre then looked at Hinata.

"It turned out to be more then we thought. Out client turned out to be the lost princess of the country, so we had to fight the usurpator and his ninjas that were wearing some kind of armor that protected them against nin and genjutsu."

"Chakra armor? Never thought those existed." Anre said taking his mask off as Ayame placed a bowl before him and Sakura.

"Well, it didn't help them much against Gaara's sand and in the end Haku managed to capture their leader in her demonic ice mirrors tecknique."

"Heh, I bet. I remember when me and Sasuke got trapped in it back at the wave." Naruto shrugged remembering the unpleasant experience.

"So that is why you are afraid of needles." Sakura laughed as she remembered how freaked out he was at the sand chunin exams. When Naruto didn't answer and turned red everyone burst out laughing, Gaara chocking on ramen in the process.

"Hey, don't laugh."

"Sorry Naruto." Hinata pecked Naruto on the cheek. "Oh, and that new guy, Sora, got a swim in the lake at the temperature around minus 30."

That caused another wave of laughter, now Naruto included.

"Hinata, do you know how Neji's team did?" Sakura suddenly asked.

"Yes, they returned yesterday in the evening, with a prisoner no less. It seems that they went against some crazy man who wanted to find some sort of an ancient power source and create a utopia via destroying all other countries."

"Where do these guys come from?" Anre shook his head.

"Beats me." Naruto began drinking the broth from the bowl.

"Anyway they eventually got some help from some guy named Timuchin that was actually tricked into following the crazy one. He led them inside the base where Neji used juuken to disable the opponent. After that it was easy."

"Hmmm, it seems as we all had a very interesting mission. Tsunade-sama indeed wanted to test us." Gaara spoke up.

"Yes, it seems so."

"I wonder if she knew about missions being more then they seemed." Hinata said.

"I think it is a possibility. She couldn't have known nothing about the snow ninjas, nor about the force Neji's team was put up against."

"Hmm, I don't like that, I mean if I go on a mission I'd like to get correct info." Sakura crossed her arms.

"She could've been disinformed aswell, we will never know for sure." Anre said finally starting on his ramen. Others nodded in agreement.

"Hey, wait up." Anre and Sakura turned around and saw Hinata gaining on them.

"What is it Hinata?" Sakura was surprised as Hinata left the ramen stand together with Naruto.

"I have to talk to you. Do you know what day is this Friday?"

"Certanly, it is the Kuubi festival." Sakura answered confidentally.

"And Naruto's birthday." Anre finished surprising Sakura, who's face then brightened with realisetion and then a bit of guilt.

"Yes, I was thinking about throwing him a secret birthday party. Father already gave his permission. After that we could all go to the festival."

"That's a great idea Hinata. Who are you going to invite?" Sakura brightened up again.

"Everybody, Anre's team, Neji's, Sasuke's team, every body."

"Whoah, that's a lot of people, Hinata."

"Yes, but I think it is fair. We didn't have the opportunity to have a big party last time. The sound/sand invasion, then the whole story with Sasuke and everybody being stuck in the hospital…"

"Oh, don't remind me, I still get nightmares about the food there." Anre interrupted. Sakura looked worringly at him for a second, she knew that he hated those memories for totally different reasons.

"Ummm, sorry. Anyway, will you come?"

"Sure, count us in." Sakura answered for both of them. Hinata thanked them and ran off looking for others.

"Great, now we have to think what to give for a present." Anre rubbed his head.

"uhhhh, I am so tired, why did I have to train so hard after a mission Hiashi-sama?"

Naruto slowly walked in front of the Huuga leader who wore a satisfied smirk.

"Don't whine Narto, as I understand, you had a small vacation in the end of your mission."

Naruto frowned as he didn't find what to answer to that.

"Good, now get inside." Hiashi let Naruto open the door.

"SURPRISE!"

Naruto was sent to the ground by the sheer volume of the scream and because of being caught off guard.

"Naruto-kun!" Hinata hurried to him while the others sweatdropped.

"What the hell with all of you screaming in my face?!" Naruto jumped up before Hinata could get to him.

"I am sorry Naruto-kun, this is your surprise birthday party." Hinata blushed.

"Birthday party?" Naruto looked around. There was cake and for the first time in his life Naruto saw ramen inside Huuga manor.

"For me?" Naruto asked now looking shocked. Hinata only nodded in response.

"Yeah, you look like you never had a party." Kiba laughed. That was when everybody saw that Naruto didn't object to that.

"You didn't, did you?" Anre asked. Again Naruto didn't say a thing and an uncomfortable silence raised until…..

"Presents time! Me first!" Lee burst through the crowd with a bright green package. "Here, this will brighten up your flames of youth!"

Naruto looked at the package and then grinned taking it …… and falling to the ground.

"Don't tell me…." Neji turned to Lee.

Naruto managed to get his hands from under the package and open it, finding a set of weights similar to Lee's.

"Ummm, thanks Lee, this will help." Naruto tried to smile as he pulled the package out of the way.

"Fine, then I guess it is our turn." Sakura pulled Anre after her and they both handed Naruto a package wrapped in white paper. Inside Naruto found a bar of metal.

"You gave him a bar of iron for a present?" Ino shrieked at Sakura.

"Nor just any metal Ino. This steel is sensitive to charka, wind charka to be precise. And since Naruto is a wind sensitive a weapon made of this metal will give him great advantage." Anre explained making Ino back off. Naruto looked curiously at the bar of metal and channeled some wind charka into it, feeling that it responded perfectly, like it was truly created for this.

"Thanks guys." Naruto put the bar on the table in the room.

Next was Sasuke, who gave Naruto a coupon for a hundred payed meals at the Ichiraku's.

Kiba presented Naruto with a book about dogs, shino with a collection of butterflyes, Tenten with a new set of kunai, Chouji gave Naruto several packs of his favourite chips which was a huge sacrifice for him, Shikamaru gave him a Shogi set, Ino the notification that she sighned him up for the shinobi wear magazine, Sora, even being surprised that he was invited at all, gave him a scroll with wind type jutsu, Haku gave him some healing balsams she made, Neji a new kunai and shuriken holsters with a huuga mark on them, Gaara gave Naruto a pendant made of compressed sand, shaped like a Konoha symbol, Temari a small fan, to keep cool in hot weather as she said, Kankoruo brought a miniature version of his puppet as a present. All that resulted in a small mountain next to Naruto.

"Hell, I … I don't really know what to say, thanks guys." Naruto smiled.

"That is more than enough, it is your birthday afterall Naruto." Kiba slapped him on the back. "Now where is that cake?"

"Jeez, Kiba, sometimes you act more like a pig, then a dog." Neji smiked.

"And are always acting so smart and cool, I hate it!" Kiba yelled at Neji, being backed up by Akamaru. The pup hit his growth spur and now was reaching Kiba's knees.

To shut Kiba up Hinata forcefully showed a plate with a slice of cake into his arms, while Tenten did the same to Neji. Once the cake was finished everyone began walking to the door.

"Hey, where are you all going?" Naruto asked.

"The festival, and you are going too. What is a better place to party theen a festival." Hinata smiled, but then noticed that Naruto's expression went dark.

"I … I am not sure I should go there. People there are celebrating the death of Kuubi and I am …. Well, I've never been welcome there. You go, have fun." Naruto turned around, but felt someone gripping his hand from behind.

"You are coming with us." Hinata said holding Naruto's hand.

"It is your holiday more then anyone's else." She was backed up by Sasuke.

"And we will be with you." Gaara's low voice came.

"Guys, thanks, but I still think … "

"You want to become Hokage Naruto?" Anre suddenly stepped forward.

"Yes."

"Then act like one, face your fears. And if they will try to hurt you, fight them and remember, you will not be alone, we all will be there for you."

Naruto lowered his head, deep in tought, but in a minute raised it, his goofy grin across the face.

"Lets have some fun!" he punched air and ran out of the manor first.


	42. Chapter 42

Chapter 42 The festival.

The large group went into the streets and set off towards the Konoha's main square, where the main festivities took place. The town was filled with holiday spirit as everyone hurried in one direction, not paying much attention to the group, that was until they reached the square.

There Naruto felt familiar glares that were pointed at him, but at the same time they were mixed with smiles, for the first time. People knew that Naruto no longer had Kuubi inside of him and that he was part of the team that delayed the sound forces, preventing an attack on Konoha. Those who glared were people who couldn't let go of either their hate, sorrow, or who were plainly cruel and shallow and wanted to hate something. They would never dare to do anything to him though, as he was now part of the Huuga clan.

"See, it ain't so bad Naruto." Sasuke smirked.

"Yeah, I guess." Naruto looked around. He never before was in the middle of the crowd without getting insulted, hit, or abused. "This is great."

"Ok, lets split up and meet here later." Ino suggested. Others nodded and to everyone's surprise Ino dragged a no less surprised and protesting Sora away with her.

"Well, I guess Ino found a new target, poor Sora." Naruto smirked and everyone burst out laughing. That was when Sora's voice came over the crowd. "Help!" that caused another wave of laughter and the group began disbanding.

"Hey, look over there Hinata, old man Teuchi and Ayame out up a ramen stand here." Naruto yipped with joy as his nose found the source of the most pleasant smell in the world.

"Lets go say hi and have some then."

"Can I?" Naruto looked at his future wife pleadingly.

Hinata chuckeled and nodded. "It is your birthday."

"YAY!" Naruto grabbed Hinata and soon they both were at the stand.

"Hey old man, guess who." Naruto grinned.

"Naruto? Ayame, look, it's Naruto." Teuchi grinned.

"Naruto, you are here, wow." Ayame smiled. "What'll it be?"

"Give me pork, to begin with. It is my birthday, so no limit today!" Naruto cheered.

"Birthday?" Ayame looked wide eyed.

"Yep."

"Then, it is on the house today." Teuchi smiled as he placed steaming bowl before Naruto.

Several minutes later Naruto and Hinata noticed a woman looking at Naruto with a strange expression on her face.

"What?" Naruto finally snapped.

"You are Naruto, Uzumaki Naruto, right?"

"Yes." Naruto tenced, along with hinata, Ayame and the old ramen maker.

"I see."

"What do you want?" Hinata asked from behind Naruto.

"Well, you see …. " the woman looked a bit uncomfortable. " …. I would like to, ummmm, apologise I guess. For the past. I was wrong, we all were." She finally said. That was certainly not what Naruto was expecting.

"Oh, it alright, I hold no grudges."

"So I've heard. Good luck, ninja." The woman payed and left.

"Heh, that was new." Ayame smiled softly.

"That is how it is supposed to be." Hinata said placing her hand on Naruto's shoulder as he smiled, not his usual goofy, but real, deep smile and a single tear slowly falling down his cheek.

"Anre, look, they are going to do a play." Sakura pointed to a stage that was put up on one side of the square.

"Want to go see."

"Af course, when again will I be able to see a play on the day of the Kuubi festival."

"Next year most likely."

Anre chuckeled looking at Sakura, who was making an angry expression on her face, making Anre smile even more.

"Fine, lets go." He laughed.

"Hey, there are two seats there." Sakura pointed to a row in the back, but when they got there both stopped in their tracks. Next to the free seats sat a pink haired woman with a man.

"Mother?"

"Sakura?"

The two females looked at each other until Sakura's mother's expression turned from surprise to anger.

"So there you are young lady. I've been worried sick. First you run away from home, then I get the message that you are betrothed, not to mention not knowing where you actually are. We are going home and you are getting grounded for life!" she grabbed her daughters arm and stormed away from the rows, but to her surprise she had to stop when Sakura didn't even move and it was beyond Rin's power to move her.

"We need to talk, but not here." Sakura walked pass her mother motioning her to follow. Sakura's father wanted to follow also, but was stopped by Anre's stretched arm.

"And here I thought it would be a fun and peaceful night." Anre shook his head looking as Sakura dragged her mother away from the crowd.

"Now listen here young lady. I agree we need to talk, or rather you need to listen to what I …."

"I am afraid the time when only I had to listen has passed, mother." Sakura crossed her hands on her chest.

"I am your mother!"

"Yes, but it doesn't mean you own me. I have a mind of my own and the ability to make my own decitions."

"You are too young to make your own decitions Sakura."

"Old enough to kill, old enough for anything else."

"kill?"

"I am a ninja mom, that is what we do, or you think we persuaded the cloud nins to slow down?"

"But I thought….. I knew that you shouldn't have become a ninja, this is no job for a lady."

"Tell that to the hokage." Sakura narrowed her eyes, but then shook her head.

"Mother, why did we argue in the first place? Because you didn't approve of my friends, you didn't approve of my judgement. You didn't respect my opinion, so you didn't respect me." Sakura fumed.

"Sakura, don't say that, I only have your best intentions in mind. Besides, how could I approve you socializing with that ….. demon spawn."

"Maybe it is already enough of that demon crap?" Sakura raised her voice. "Naruto is a good friend, loyal and caring."

"He is a demon!"

"Why are you so sure about it? What did he ever do to earn this?"

"What did he do? He almost destroyed this village!"

"He was an infant, he was born the dreadful night. He was a chid who didn't even understand why he was hated. He was used to save this village and I don't think that the fourth ever intended for him to be treated like this."

"How can you even think that! You can't hold a demon inside and not become one."

"Mom, I am only two months younger then Naruto, so lets imagine for a second that the fourth used me as that sacrifice …. "

"Sakura stop saying nonsense." Rin said, but Sakura didn't stop.

"….. would you hate me? Just answer that question: Yes, or No?"

Rin took a step back. "Sakura, what you are saying is impossible to even imagine."

"Yes or No?" Sakura raised her voice again.

"Sakura …. "

"Yes or no?!"

"No, I could never hate you, no matter what." The woman screamed out with tears in her eyes.

"But how would that be different, I would be as you say, a demon."

"Sakura, you are my daughter, my flesh and blood. How could I ever hate you?!"

"You know, Naruto also had parents. I suppose they both died that night, we never asked though. But I think they would've answered the same way."

Rin didn't answer.

"You judge him for the crime he didn't even commit. You judge him without even talking to him once. You judge him, not knowing anything and yet you claim your judgement to be fair and right. I know him, yet my opinion is not even taken into consideration."

"Sakura, you haven't seen that night … "

"I've seen death mother, I felt it, I caused it. I know more about it that you, so don't tell me about the horrors that you never experienced."

Sakura's mother took another step back. For the first time she looked at her daughter from another side and saw not a cute small girl that needed protection, but a grown young woman, who was ready to kill to protect what was dear to her. That shocked her.

"Sakura, I am ….. I don't know ….. I am confused."

"I know, I guess I was confused once also, but you have to accept the truth to see clearly. I learned that the hard way."

"I love you Sakura, you will always be my daughter."

"I love you to mom, but I have my own life to live aswell. You can be the part of it, but you can't decide for me how to live it."

"I …. I understand, you have indeed grown up." The two females embraced each other, tears running down their eyes. A minute later they broke apart.

"So, I guess you will not be coming back home."

Sakura shook her head with a sad smile.

"Well, then can I atleast visit, I have to see where you live after all."

"Sure, why not. But what about my friends?" Sakura looked serious again.

"It is hard for me Sakura, but I guess there is truth behind your words. I will try to get to know Naruto better, but in time. I will not oppose your friendship, but give me time."

"Ok, thanks mom, now lets go. Father and Anre must be already going crazy there."

Both laughed a bit. "I missed you Sakura."

"Yeah, I missed you too."


	43. Chapter 43

Chapter 43 A test? Again?

"Hokage-sama, you wanted to see us all?"

Anre's, Sasuke's and Neji's team were all assembled in Tsuande's office a week after the festival.

"Yes, I suppose you all enjoyed your free time?"

Everyone nodded or showed other sighns of agreement.

"good. I took the time to study the reports of Sasuke's and Neji's team after their recent missions. I must admit I was impressed by your strength. But, I have my doubts about your teamwork. I want to test you."

"Then why are we here?" Anre asked.

"Simple, you are the test. I want to see how other teams will fare against you four."

That resulted in a silent room and a chuckeling Tsuande.

"I see you agree."

"Hey, wait a minute…" Kiba started but was silenced by Ino's hand on his mouth.

"good. Your former sensei's should already be at the training field 5, so go there."

"don't count on Kakashi-sensei to be on time." Naruto laughed.

"Yes, I thought about it too Naruto, so I made Shizune send him a message 2 hours in advance."

The room erupted in laughter as they pictured Kakashi's expression once he found out that he for once was on time.

The group made it to the large training field that had a small lake in the middle of it. On it's bank stood several people.

"Hey, Kakashi-sensei!"

The lazy ninja turned around and saw Naruto wawing his hand and grinning. Around him were others sent here by Tsunade. Next to Kakashi was standing Kurenai, Zabusa, Gai, Asuma, Baki and some ninja in jounin uniform, with an open face helmet that had the leaf symbol engraved on it.

"Yo." Kakashi raised his hand as a greeting.

"How does it feel to be on time Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked with a giggle.

"Huh? Lets just skip it. I feel violated." Kakashi lowered his head.

"He feels violated, how do you think we felt everytime you were two hours late?" Naruto fumed.

"Yeah, yeah. Now don't you all have work to do?" the young ninjas nodded.

"Good. It will be a simple fight, two teams against one. The first side to loose all active members looses, simple as that. But this is no sparr, you have to fight for real, with an intent to kill."

"Kill, we can't fight our friends like that!" Naruto yelled throwing a glance at a rather pale Hinata.

"Don't worry, that is why Yamato is here." Kakashi motioned to a man with a helmet.

"As Kakashi-san had said, my name is Yamato and I am here to keep the dangers of this test to a minimum. Here, eat these." Yamato pulled out a small bag filled with something.

"What are these?" Ino asked looking over what looked like a seed.

"These are special seeds. Once you eat the, they will work as a beacon. I will be able to see which one of you is real, or summon you to me once there will be lethal danger for you, but only real lethal danger, I won't save you from getting knocked out or from a broken leg, that can be healed. Being summoned to me will mean that you will be counted for dead. Understood?"

Everyone nodded and ate the tasteless seeds even Akamaru.

"Why are our senseis here then?" Temari asked adjusting the fan on her back.

"We will play the role of judges." Baki answered.

"Fine, you all have an hour to prepare. You may use anything you want in battle, any jutsu, any weapon, anything. The only limitation is the use of summons." Asuma said pulling out a new cigarette. Right after that Yamato made several handseals creating a huge pillar on the bank of the lake, atop of which he and the rest of Sensei's prepared to watch the fight.

"So, how do we do this?" Haku asked as both her and Neji's team stood in the circle on one side of the training grounds.

"Awww, come on, this will be easy. There are two times more of us and they are … "

"Neji, do you mind?" Sasuke suddenly interrupted the young Inuzuka.

"Be my guest." The Huuga replied.

Sasuke nodded and smacked a surprised Kiba on the head. "Idiot. This will be really hard."

"True, I have never seen Anre's team in action, but what I've heard makes me believe that is is going to be very …. Complicated." Neji backed up Sasuke. "What do we know about their abilities?"

"Well, Shino is an Aburame." Hinata started. "His bugs can protect him in a manner similar to Gaara's sand. He can create clones from them and the bugs can drain you of charka in a matter of minutes. From the days when we were on the same genin squad I remember that he can look after himself in close quarters, and once he places a bug on you it is almost impossible to hide." Hinata finished.

"Yeah and it looks really creepy." Kiba said earning another smack on the head this time from Ino.

"Ok, now Sakura." Haku suggested.

"Well, she is very good with genjutsu as I remember and she is a medic." Sasuke said.

"She and Anre sometimes come to train at the Huuga estate." Neji began. "She is deadly with her bow. From the fight at the sand chunin exams I remember that she is able to use substitution without handseals, constantly changing her position. And then comes the charka scalpel. If she touches you, you loose." Neji concluded. Ino frowned at that, wondering how her friend got so good.

"Fine, what do we know about Naruto?" Temari took initiative and looked at Hinata. The Huuga heiress sighed and thought for a moment.

"He has huge charka reserves and with his shadow clones can create a whole army. The byakugan can't tell which one is the real Naruto, nor I think can the sharingan." Hinata looked at Sasuke who nodded in agreement. "He is good with traps and can rig a huge area in a matter of minutes using his clones. Then he knows the rasengan, a very powerful close range justu that doesn't need handseals to perform. He has mastered wind charka and knows several wind based ninjutsu. He also charges his kunai with wind charka, that way they can pierce even rocks, or cut other metal weapons. He has the ability to charge up his senses: hearing, smelling and sight. It makes it almost impossible to sneak up on him. You can see when he does that as his eyes become slitted. Finally he can form charka features out of raw charka, just like he did at the chunin exams, only now all nine tails. His charka claws are a lethal weapon." Hinata breathed out once she stopped talking.

"Ok. That leaves only Anre." Ino said a bit surprised by the amount of skills Naruto possessed.

Sasuke nodded and began spilling the info he had.

"Well, as I remember, his taijutsu is deadly, back when we just became genin he tore a tree down with a single kick, and he was very fast. Remember? He managed to go head to head with Lee's speed. Then I remember that he is even better with daggers and now most likely with a sword. He uses water based and lightning based ninjutsu. He often charges his demon shuriken with lightning type charka, same with other weapons. He has the ability to form charka features just like Naruto, only those of a dragon: tail, claws, wings. He also can breathe out fire without using handseals. He calls it dragon's breath and as I remember even Haku's ice can't stop it. I have no idea how many justus he knows, but they are all deadly. He also uses shadows to move around inside of them, impossible to detect. Finally he uses the scrolls to perform some strange justu that as he said, sends a direct order to the mind. It takes a lot of charka and I don't think that he can do that more then 3 or 4 times a day." Sasuke finised.

"Ok, to sum it all up ….." Haku began.

"… we are royally screwed." Temari finished.

Finally the two sides came together on the river bank opposing the one where Yamato created the pillar.

"Ok, remember, we have to look after each other." Sasuke whispered to those around him.

"Yes, we keep our eyes open and we will be able to pin them down." Neji agreed.

A faint breeze was felt by everybody as the two sides looked at each other, but then Sasuke heard another sound. The sound of buzzing insects. The last Uchiha spun around and formed handseals.

"Fire element: Grand fireball no jutsu!" Sasuke spat out a fireball at the cloud of insect flying towards him. The fire made the swarn scatter. Little did he notice that the fireball created a long shadow.

"Sasuke look …" Sasuke didn't hear the rest of Haku's warning as he was surrounded by smoke. The next second it cleared he saw that he as on the pillar next to Yamato.

"Hey, what's the big idea?!"

"Look yourself." Kakashi pointed back to where Sasuke used to be. To his shock Sasuke saw Anre use a substitution to get away from the spot Sasuke used to be standing at. Now he was nowhere to be seen.

"If it was a real fight you would already be dead." Kakashi concluded

Sasuke was mad at himself for making a mistake, but had to agree.

"Damn." Neji swore as his juuken strike only met air as Anre puffed away.

"Whoah, that was fast." Kiba said. "Hey, look!" Kiba pointed at their opponents and everyone saw Sakura pull out several kunai. With a swift motion she sent some of them into the air and some into the forest nearby.

"What is she doing?" Ino asked.

"Scatter! She'll use those for a substitution." Neji yelled leaping away as indeed Sakura disappeared in a puff of smoke and appeared next to Hinata with her hand glowing with charka. The Huuga heiress jumped back just in time and Sakura disappeared again in a puff of smoke.

"Shadow clone jutsu!" Naruto declared as he was now backed up by several dozen of his copies. They all charged immediately.

"Hinata, you me and Gaara will go after Anre and Sakura, everyone else, take care of Naruto and Shino." Neji ordered and he along with Hinata and Gaara ran towards the forest.

"Great, I wanted to fight him for a long time. Time for a rematch Naruto." Kiba yelled.

"Akamaru! Human beast clone!" Akamaru immediately turned into exact copy of Kiba.

Haku preferred to stay away, showering the clones with needles, her back covered by Ino who wielded a kunai.

"Burst of Wind!" Temari swung her fan throwing several clonse away, but not destroying them.

"Akamaru! Fand over fang!" Kiba yelled and both he and his partner turned into two spinning tornados that tore their way through the clones making them disappear in a puff of smoke until suddenly one of the clones exploded in a cloud of insects.

"Oh crap!" Kiba yelled as he felt that he was covered in bugs. Akamaru turned back to his original form and was also covered in insects. That was all Naruto's clones needed as they threw kunai at Kiba from different angles. Just before they hit Kiba and Akamaru were summoned by Yamato to the pillar.

In the mean time Temari was busy swinging her fan in every direction occasionally destroying a clone or two.

"Rasengan!" Temari spun around and saw two clones throw Naruto wielding the rasengan at her.

"That won't work!" she grinned swinging her fan. But just before getting hit Naruto puffed away, using a substitution with a huge boulder. The next second instead of Naruto a piece of rock was flying towards Temari and it wasn't even slowed down much by the wind.

Temari pulled up her hands in a futile attempt to shield herself. The pain never came as she soon found herself atop the pillar next to Kiba and Akamaru.

"It is two on two now." Naruto said as he dismissed all the clones around except one, which then turned into an ever stoic Shino.

"Any suggestions Haku?" Ino asked frowning.

"Yes, I'll try my ice dragon tecknique and freeze one of them, you will then take over the body and I will dismiss the ice.

"Lets do it."

"You see them?" Gaara asked in his usual low voice.

"I can't find Anre, and Sakura is constantly moving." Neji answered as the trio ran along the trees not daring to enter the forest.

Suddenly Hinata bent back to avoid an arrow." We need to get to the lake, open area will not let them use cover." Neji said, but just as they began moving towards the water Anre appeared above them a demon shuriken in each hand, both blazing with electricity.

"KAITEN!" both Hinata and Neji began spinning as the two shuriken were thrown towards them. The two were deflected by the spinning chakta shield.

"Water element: Water spear no jutsu." Gaara turned around, his sand shield rising to deflect the jutsu, but the water spear immediately turned to simple water, soacking the sand, limiting Gaara's ability to use it. Just then Anre landed and pulled his hands that were holding two ends of ninja wire making the seemingly thrown aside demon shuriken change direction and fly towards Gaara, both weapons still blazing with electricy. Gaara tried to raise his sand shield again, but the sand was not obeying as well as it used to.

PUFF! Gaara was transported to the pillar, while Anre calmly caught both his shuriken, packed them up with a flick of the wrist and placed them on his back.

Then two figures ran through the smoke both having a rasengan in their hands. Their speed was impressive and Anre knew that he had no time to evade, unless…...

Hinata's and Neji's eyes widened as both their hands were grabbed near the wrist. Anre slid back opposing the power, but didn't let go.

"Now!" Neji cried as he and Hinata charged the maximum into their juuken strikes with their free hands. But Anre jumped into the air still holding their hands and used his momentum to throw both Huugas over his head into the lake. Anre ran towards the lake positioning himself under the airbone Huugas and threw kunai into the air. The weapon passed between Neji and Hinata who twisted in mid air to avoid getting hit, but kunai was suddenly replaced by Sakura who shot several arrows at Neji and Hinata at amazing speed. The Huugas had to use kaiten again to avoid getting hit, but when they stopped spinning they didn't see Sakura above them, while Anre jumped and began flying parallel to the ground looking up. He took a deep breath and Neji and Hinata were transported to the pillar just before being fried.

"Aim for Shino Haku, atleast we can see him." Ino suggested as Haku's jutsu caused havoc in the mids of Naruto's shadow clones. The battle raged on the surface of the lake, where Haku had enough water to use her jutsu to the fullest.

"Alright."

The dragon spun around and breathed out a cloud of icy air freesing Shino along with a small coud of bugs surrounding him, but suddenly the body inside the ice turned to smoke.

"Not only Sakura knows genjutsu." Ino heard the stoic Aburame's voice behind her and disappeared from the dragon's back as Shino nearly cut her throat open.

Haku threw several senbon at him, but Shino's bugs formed a barrier giving Shino a chance to get away. Just then Haku's jutsu was hit by incredibly hot fire, melting the dragon and making the jutsu collapse. Jumping off her melting ice jutsu Haku noticed how Anre stopped breathing fire and rubbed his throat.

"I still say that your jutsu is impressive Haku, but you are not the only one that was inspired by the water dragon." Anre said forming a long set of hand seals.

"WATER ELEMENT: WATER HYDRA NO JUTSU. BEAST OF THE POSEIDON!"

"You've got to be kidding me." Haku muttered as a huge seven headed water hydra raised from the water of the lake. Even the people at the pillar were amazed by the power of the jutsu. With a single motion of his hand Anre send the beast at Haku. In the matter of seconds she found herself atop of the pillar, soacked. She saw how Anre released the justu flooding the shore.

Author note: Ok, I actually finished the story. The final chapter is chapter 60 and I will post several chapters every two or three days. Now a question, should I write a sequel? I have ideas for a plot, but suggestions are welcome.


	44. Chapter 44

Author note:

First of all, I respect any opinion I get, including a not so good opinion on my fic. What I like, is that a person not only says he doesn't like it, but explains why. If I will write a sequel I will take it into consideration. But I feel as I should reply to the critics.

The story is rushed. Perhaps you are correct, because it is rather hard to judge my own fic on this criteria.

Overpowered characters. Umm, where is a limit between overwoered and not overpowered? I said that the characters would be really strong. Now lets see, Anre lost to Orochimaru and was saved by Jiraiya, he lost to Yugito and was saved by Naruto. Sure there was a good fight, it would be boring if they would just get their asses kicked, because in ninja world, they usually fight to kill, not to knock out.

Overpowered Sakura? Ahem, in my fic she doesn't turn boulders to dust with a punch. I tried to use her strong side – charka control, turning into a genjutsu specialist. A bow lets her stay away and charka scalpels are the way to handle foes in close quarters. We all remember how Kabuto used them to beat both Tsunade, who is a sannin, and her assistant Shizune. She uses basic jutsus, but on a new level.

Overpower Naruto? Well, in recent manga episode he mastered the sage form in a span of few days and now throws boss size summons into the air without breaking a sweat. In my fic he sticks to shadow clones and the rasengan, with the addition of wind jutsu he has affinity to.

If saying a powerful jutsu means overpowered then the fourth hokage is overpowered as his thunder god jutsu allowed him to annihilate ARMIES of shinobi in a span of a few seconds. Itachi's tsukomi inflicts mental damage equal to 3 days of inhumane torture in a span of few seconds by looking someone in the eyes. Pein destroyed half of Konoha with one jutsu. Isn't that overpowered?

What do my characters have. Anre's power word art jutsu. Sure, powerful, but takes it's toll and needs the target to stay still and that is not always easy to do. Besides, the max he can do is kill 3, maybe 4 people a day. Besides it doesn't work on jinchuuriki, like Yugito and he said, that a person with a powerful will might be able to resist it. And that will happen later.

Now, lets look at the conflict with the cloud. An overpowered character would do something like jump in the middle of the camp, kill everyone left and right, then do some jutsu that would leave a big crater where the camp was, just after sayong something like 'asta la vista baby'

My characters work as an elite team would work in present days. Ambushes, traps, affect the morale of ememy troops.

About me injuring them for show. Wouldn't it be strange if they would fight a big battle and end up without a scratch? If they loose, they die and character death is not in my script.

Characters progress fast in rank. Compare it to Itachi's career. He was ANBU at the age most graduate from academy. Kakashi was jounin at the time. Now that is fast ranking. I promote my characters, because they deserve the rank of jounin.

About not paying much attention to other characters. Well, that is because they are _secondary _characters. The fic is centered around several key character, most in Anre's team.

Well that was my opinion. Hope I made my logic clear, but as I said, I respect opinions of others and will take them into consideration. And one more thing, do not leave anonymous reviews, it is a pain to answer in the beginning of the chapter.

Chapter 44. And again.

When the fight ended Anre and his team were also transported to the pillar, but then were told that they should wait by the lake, after Kakashi declared them winners.

"We majorily screwed up." Haku said pushing the water out of her hair.

"You are being easy on yourself Haku." Zabusa said, clearly disappointed.

"I am afraid that Zabusa is right." Asuma said.

"But this is exactly why Tsunade-sama wanted you to do this. You are new to the rank of chunin. I am not saying you are not powerful enough, the recent missions proved the opposite. You work together, follow orders of the team leader, but there is more to that then working in a chunin team." Kakashi said. "Any guesses what you lack and why you were beaten?"

"They are stronger then us." Ino said.

"Well, yes, I guess, but there are more of you. And you could of atleast hit one of them once. Anre's team didn't even look tired after this." Kurenai said. "What you all lack is not power, or skill."

"Then what?" Sasuke asked.

Kakashi sighed.

"You see Sasuke, members of Anre's team have their styles and teckniques working in conformity with each other. Together they make each other powerful. They strike not to just strike, but to make you vulnerable to another attack, or to confuse you. Like when Shino sent his bugs behind you, he was counting on you using your fire jutsu, creating a shadow for Anre to use." Kakashi then turned to Hinata and Neji. "Or when Anre threw a kunai into the air. He didn't want to hit you, but created an opportunity for Sakura to force both to use your kaiten, leaving you defenseless before Anre's fire." Next he turned to Kiba and Temari. "Same when Shino posed as one of Naruto's clones and mixed several of his bug clones among the horde of shadow clones. Seemingly correct action of using a powerful fang over fang tecknique resulted in catastrophe for you Kiba. Then was Naruto's move when he made Temari believe that he wanted to hit her with the rasengan, but in mid air exchanged places with a boulder which wasn't stopped by wind. He used the basic tecknique to finish you, while he used one of his most powerful moves to simply distract you. Gaara simply had his sand soacked making it heavy. He had no time to pump more chackra into it and was left without defense. Haku and Ino didn't even take in consideration that Naruto could disguise one of his clones as Shino."

Eight young chunin hung their heads. Kakashi wasn't going easy on them. He was throwing their mistakes into their faces, at the same time pointing out superiority in performance of their opponents.

"You can work as a team, that is true, but you do not work as one mechanism. The attacks of your opponents resembled taijutsu combinations, confusing you, throwing off balance, creating an opening until throwing a final attack to beat you."

"So, what now?" Sasuke asked.

"Now, that you know what you are supposed to do you will get an exercise."

"Like what?" Kiba frowned.

"We will see if you will be able to work the way we need to penetrate the defence of a single opponent. Yamato."

The young chunin looked at each other wondering who would be their opponent until in a puff of smoke Yamato summoned …. Anre.

"Are you sure about this Kakashi sensei?" Sakura asked looking a bit worried as she and the rest of her tam along with their senseis observed how Anre and the eight new chunin prepared to engage each other.

"Don't worry Sakura, we both know that Anre is strong." Naruto grinned.

"Yes, but more importantly, he thinks like a true ninja, that is his greatest talent. He looks underneath the underneath and somehow passed his knowledge to you three. Kakashi said to Sakura, Shino and Naruto. "I guess when you trained together you learned to think like him following his commands and then anticipating them until no words were needed for you to cooperate. That is a trait that makes a jutsu user into a shinobi. The ninja is not who knows the teckniques, but the one who knows how to use them, how to apply them and how to think like a true shinobi. Sadly most of our profession forget about that and Tsunade-sama wants this new generation to know this and use this. She wants the ninjas of Konoha to be true shinobi. That is what Tsunade-sama wants your friends to achieve. We can't make you train together, so this is the only way left to make them understand."

"But why put them up against only Anre?" Sakura protested.

"We first put them up against your whole team, knowing full well that they would loose badly. That knocked their pride down, making them more eager to think. Now we make their objective easyer, yet still challenging, to see if they will try to apply what they've heard."

"Oh, I see. What are the odds you think?" Sakura asked, but Kakashi didn't answer.

"One against eight, heh, I guess here we can't loose." Kiba grinned.

"I don't think it will be that easy, Kiba-kun. I don't know the limit of Anre's strength, but he is very powerful and cunning in battle." Hinata said looking how Anre slid into a fighting stance. "Anyone who took Orochimaru one on one and lived is a powerful opponent."

"lets test him in close quarters first, he has to have a weakness, we just need to find it." Sasuke suggested.

"Ok, all those good in close combat attack head on, others, cover us." Neji ordered and he, Hinata, Sasuke and Kiba charged. They didn't see Kakashi and other older ninjas shaking their heads.

Anre spun around, ducked, blocked, leaped away from attacks, but wasn't attacking back. He was slowly retreating as occasionally he had to avoid getting hit by needles or sand.

"Keep pressing on!" Sasuke yelled, but didn't notice Anre's smirk under his mask.

Soon he led them to a place where he dispelled his water hydra jutsu. The area was still flooded with water.

Anre suddenly leaped back and formed handseals.

"Water element: water needle rain." Thousands of needles shot from the water straight at the four close quarters fighters. Kiba, Sasuke and Akamaru leaped back, but Hinata and Neji preferred to use kaiten. Anre dodged a gust of wind from Temari, threw and explosive note to keep Gaara busy and ran towards Neji and Hinata whose spinning was already slowing down. The two Huugas became separated from their comrades and now were under attack from Anre. Just before a clash Anre's eyes flashed purple and Neji and Hinata's juuken strikes only hit Anre's afterimage.

"Guhhh!" Neji spit out blood as a powerful kick sent him flying and crashing into Haku. Hinata suddenly felt strong arms grabbing her head and neck and her sight was covered by smoke as she was transported to the pillar to avoid getting her neck snapped.

"Anre is winning." Naruto grinned approaching his fiancée.

"Yes, I am sorry Naruto-kun."

"Don't worry, next time will be better." Naruto wrapped his hand around Hinata as they both looked down.

Neji got up and charged at Anre. His strikes were dodged until he got close enough.

"You are in range of my divination!"

Neji spun around in his low stance and thrust his hands forward.

"Two strikes!"

Just before getting hit Anre's eyes glowed a brighter shade of purple. Then to Neji'd shock he saw that Anre caught both his wrists.

"Impossibe." The young Huuga muttered. "Gah!" Neji spat out blood as Anre punched him into the stomack and then unleashed a fury of strikes at Neji. Kiba and Ino tried to interfere but were thrown away. Gaara got occupied by several water clones, others were too far away.

Chest, jaw, stomack, knee, nose, chest, right shoulder, getting spun around, kidneys, left shoulder, getting spun around again, another knee, jaw, stomack, chest, thigh, chest, another thigh, chest, nose, stomack, nose, getting legs swept from under you, and finally a double punch to the chest while you are still in midair parallel to the ground, sending you flying away with immense pain all over your body. That was what Neji felt in the matter of seconds. During that Neji's body was bending in different directions as it was hard to say where Anre was even striking, his body was leaving an afterimage. The only clear part was his purple eyes, surrounded by a black blurr. From his barely conscious state on the ground Neji saw a figure in black dropping down. The hit never connected as Neji got transported away.

"Holly crap!" Temari swore as Anre's attack raised a cloud of dust. When it cleared there was a several meter wide crater that was getting filled by the water from around. Soon Anre was standing in a small pond, water getting up to his knees.

Back at the field Sasuke cursed when he saw what happened. With a single well planned attack Anre disabled both Neji and Hinata and here he though that they were keeping him on his toes, while he was leading them into the trap.

"_We can't trust what we see. He will just trick us again. We must try to anticipate his moves and counter them with ours_. _He thinks differently, not like we do. We are too straightforward._ " Sasuke thought. He then saw Anre sink into the water.

"Everyone, get away from the water! To the dry area!" Sasuke yelled and everyone immediately leaped away.

"Don't go near the trees, there are shadows there and the lake is taboo." Sasuke said again.

Anre was nowhere to be seen. Suddenly Sasuke felt something behind him and immediately ducked. He felt wind blow over him as if something passed. Then he leaped away and his sharingan picked up traces of charka. Sasuke saw a barely visible siluette running towards Haku who was still oblivious as to why he dodged.

"Haku, mirror!" without hesitation the girl used her ice mirror tecknique to get to Sasuke. The siluette turned a bit and now was heading towards Ino.

"Gaara, you, Ino, sphere of sand!"

Gaara nodded and surrounded a surprised Ino and himself with sand just in time to prevent a sword stabbing through the blonde.

"Temari, create a breeze towards Kiba! Kiba, pick up Anre's scent, he is camoufladged. If you look closer you can see him."

"Kiba's nose soon picked up the scent, but his eyes widened as he understood that it was coming towards him.

"Oh crap! Piercing fang!" Kiba jumped forward, but the blurry silhouette moved to the side and Kiba saw Akamaru puff away.

Then the group saw several water clones of Anre appear and charge at all of them, except Sasuke.

"_He must be after me .. no, that is what he wants me to think_."

"Desert coffin. Desert funeral." Gaara's sand crushed the clone, but the water it was made of soacked his sand again.

CLING!

Gaara turned around and saw Sasuke blocking Anre's sword with his kunai.

"Not this time." Sasuke grinned. By that time others took care of the clones. Anre narrowed his eyes and jumped back. Sasuke saw Temari prepare to swing her fan and an idea poped in his head.

"Fire element: Grand fireball no jutsu!" Sasuke's fire jutsu met with Temari's wind and the fireball turned into a minitornado made of fire, moving directly at Anre. The young jounin jumped into the air.

"Gaara!" The sand flew towards Anre, but he breathed out fire turning it to glass.

"Haku!"

A mirror appeared above Anre and Haku dropped down from it with a kunai at hand. Anre blocked with his daggers, but the momentum turned him around.

"Temari!"

Sasuke jumped into the air using Temari's fan as a trampoline.

"Chidori!"

Sasuke grinned as he saw Anre's defenseless back approaching.

SMACK!

Sasuke received a powerful hit just before his chidori connected. Before hitting the ground he saw that it was a tail made of pure charka that hit him. Sasuke would've hit the ground hard, but Gaara softened his fall with his sand. Sasuke looked up and saw Anre dropping down on him with charka claws.

"Damn!" Sasuke tried to shield himself, but instead was pulled away by Gaara's sand. Anre landed on the ground and leapt aside avoiding several shuriken from Ino, then flipped into the air letting a spinning Kiba past under him.

"Claws of shukaku." Gaara raised his hands creating a palm with wicked looking claws.

The attack was stopped when Anre breathed fire at it, turning the sand to glass.

"Ice element: ice shackles." Haku formed a set of one armed seals. Anre looked down and saw his legs trapped in ice.

"Chidori!" Sasuke struck and saw his hand pierce Anre's chest. But instead of blood water came out of the wound and then Anre turned to water.

"_Water clone_?" Sasuke turned around and saw a demon shuriken fly at him, followed by another. Sasuke dodged the first one, while the second was stopped by Gaara.

"Thanks!" Sasuke smiled, but then his eyes widened when the first shuriken changed direction, while the second one was pulled out of the sand.

"Ninja wire." Sasuke realized, but it was too late. The shuriked were blazing with electricity this time and tore right through Gaara's sand. Sasuke was transported to the pillar, soon followed by Gaara, since the shuriken continued on their way straight at Gaara, who's view was blocked by smoke and his own sand.

Ino gasped when she saw what happened. Suddenly she noticed a blade by her throat and was also transported to the pillar. Haku was transported when the mirror she was hiding in was sliced into four pieces by Anre's claws. That only left Temari and Kiba. The former sand kunoichi got hit by her own fan, while Kiba was put out of submission when Anre used his dragon combo on him.


	45. Chapter 45

Chapter 45 Life goes on.

"Bravo." Kakashi clapped.

"You kidding? We lost!" Kiba yelled looking over a knocked out Akamaru.

"Yes, but you did what we wanted you to do. You made Anre reserve to his most powerful abilities."

Just then Anre appeared in a cloud of smoke. His breathing was irregular, and he looked a bit tired.

"So, do you now have a picture of what we were trying to tell you."

"Yes." Sasuke nodded.

"I have a great picture. The picture of today's humiliation." Kiba muttered.

"Umm, yes, that too. But now, you are all dismissed, we will repeat this some other day, for now you know what to do, or atleast some of you do." Kakashi gave his eye smile. "Also, you all now know your flaws and what to work on. Especially the fact that all of you often rely completely on your special abilities. Those skills are your trump cart, not something to use everytime. You have all seen what happens when Gaara meets with a weapon capable of piercing his sand." Gaara crossed his arms, but nodded admitting the remark. "You have all seen what happens when Huuga's rely on kaiten and the byakugan too much. " Neji scowled while Hinata hung her head. "But regardless you atleast did what we wanted you to do. Now you know your way, the rest is up to you. Anre I thank you and your team for assistance."

"Concentrate Hanabi, do not let your emotions cloud your judgement. Keep cool." Hiashi instructed as he trained his younger daughter. He didn't want to let her do the rasengan exercises until she fully mastered juuken and she still was not completely ready.

"Father, Neji and Hinata are home." Hanabi broke the fight and looked as Neji and Hinata slowly walked towards the pair, before going inside. Well, actually Hinata was helping Neji get there as the young Huuga looked like he was run over by a pissed off Tsunade. His broken nose, dislocated shoulders, and other injuries were healed by Sakura and Hinata, who later applied her healing oiment. Right now Neji had bandages under his shirt and on his knees.

"What happened to you two?" Hiashi asked as he saw the two young Huugas looking beat up. Neji nursed his chest which he was sure would have a good bruise or rather several good bruises there by the morning. Hinata looked better, but also was a bit dirty and very tired.

"Sorry father, we were training with Anre-san's team today." Hinata answered.

"And what the training was about if you look like this?"

"Our sensei's made our teams fight Anre's team and then Anre alone after his team pummeled us into the ground." Neji answered. His pride got a beating today.

"And what about when he fought you alone?" Hanabi asked an only got a glare from Neji, while Hinata lowered her head.

"The result was the same." They both answered in unison.

"And what was the point of the exercise?" Hiashi asked.

"They wanted us to think and fight like one."

"And?"

"In the end Sasuke managed to organize those who remained for a very powerful combination of attacks, but Anre still won. Kakashi-san said that was the way he wanted to see us fight."

"what about you two?"

The young Huugas hung their heads again.

"We were the first Anre-san decided to strike down. He lured us into a well planned trap. We were taken out in the matter of seconds." Neji answered. Remembering that was painful.

"Really?" Hiashi looked a bit disappointed. "Did you learn what your teachers were trying to teach you?"

"Yes, I think we did." Hinata answered.

"Then your training was not in vain. You learned that you still have room to improve and things to work at. I suppose your goals for the future should be clearer now. Go clean yourselves out and rest today. Neji, three days for you. Where is Naruto by the way.

"He stayed to practice using charka nature manipulation." Hinata answered.

"I see. Hanabi, again."

Hiashi slid into the juuken stance, preparing to train Hanabi agaim.

"Father." Hinata bowed and left.

"Hiashi-sama." Neji stayed behind.

"Yes, Neji?" Hiashi turned to the young Huuga.

"Today during the fight I saw Anre-san do something I never thought possible."

"Interesting, what was it?"

"The eight trigrams: sixty four palms attack, he stopped it. Not dodged or got out of range in time, he stopped it, grabbed my hands before I even touched him."

Hanabi's eyes widened. She saw Neji perform that move during training and her father told her that once begun there was no way to stop the deadly combination of strikes.

"That is very …… unexpected Neji, I will talk to Anre-san about it. This is very unusual. I've heard and seen that the sharingan is able to help dodge the strikes, but blocking, or even stopping is unheard of. Thank you for telling me this Neji."

Neji bowed and left. Right now the only thing he wanted was a relaxing shower and to lie down.

"Sakura, can we speak for a second?"

Sakura and Anre turned around and saw Ino gaining on them.

"Ino?"

"Yeah. Sakura, we need to talk." Ino glanced a Anre.

"Umm, sure, I guess. Anre you go on, I'll come later."

"As you wish." Anre shrugged and left.

"Well, what is so important you had to cut short my … private time."

"Oh come on, you'll have plenty time more with your boyfriend…"

"fiancée." Sakura corrected.

"Whatever, I want to talk about today's test."

"What about it?"

"Well, it is just…. I WAS USELESS BACK THERE!"

Sakura took a step back from the upset blonde.

"Relax Ino. How can you be useless, you know your family jutsu and you trained to be a medic so…."

"Sakura, my family jutu is useless unless the enemy stays still and being a medic helps after a battle not in the middle of it."

"Ok, ok I get it, but what do you want from me?"

"Teach me how to use a substitution without handseals." Ino closed her eyes and prepared for an onslaught, but it never came.

"You want me, to teach you? Why?" Sakura asked after a minute of silence.

"Because you can and because you are my friend."

"Well, I don't know, sealess substitution is sort of my trademark move."

"Oh c'mon Sakura, don't be greedy."

"Fine, I guess it is for the better, we are on the same side, besides Anre said that he will give me his binding contract with time, so ok, I'll show you how to do it."

"Really?" Ino beamed up

"Really, but on one condition."

"Condition?"

"Yes, you handle the expences for the training material, don't worry you should handle it."

"Umm, what will we need?"

"Lets see, a needle, several clean towels, preferably a spare outfit for you and …… several hundred eggs."

"What?! Eggs? Is this a joke?"

Sakura grinned evilly. "No, trust me this ain't gonna be easy, but it is possible. Anre made me go through this training regime."

"Ok, if it helps, but I still don't get it."

"Don't worry, tomorrow you will. We meet at sunrise by your flowershop."

"Ok, we are here, so what now?" Ino and Sakura put down two crates with eggs gently on the ground. They came to the training grounds where team 7 officially became a genin team. It didn't change much. The place brough back memories, how Kakashi gave them a bell test, how Sakura failed to see genjutsu. So much changed since then.

"Earth to Sakura, come in." Ino waved her hand in front of Sakura's eyes.

"Oh, sorry I spaced out, it is just that this is the place where Kakashi gave our final test to become genin.

"Heh, so many happened since then."

"Yep, now lets get down to business. Observe." Sakura took a needle and charged it with charka making it glow faint blue. She then took an egg from a crate and slowly pierced it, leaving a small hole.

"That is it?" Ino looked skeptical.

"Is harder then it looks. Try it."

"Ok." Ino shrugged and took a needle and another egg. "Wait, what are the towels for then?"

"you'll see. Now do it."

Ino charged charka into the needle, while Sakura took several careful stepps back.

SPLAT!

"I hate you Sakura!" yelled a covered in egg Ino, while Sakura was rolling on the ground laughing.

"Stop that, this is so gross." Ino shook her shoulders and went to get a towel.

"This is hilarious. But if you must know, I went through the same thing to boost my charka control to the level where I was able to mold charka correctly for a substitution without handseals."

"How long did it take you?" Ino asked wiping raw egg off her face.

"Three weeks."

"Three weeks of this? Ewwww!"

"Hey, good things never come easy. Maybe if you would have spent a bit more time training then shopping or looking through magazines you woulldn't have needed my help right now."

"Hey, not all of us are lucky enough to have a boyfriend …"

"Fiancee."

"Whatever….. as I was saying, not all of us are lucky enough to have somebody teach us."

"Hey, your father is a jounin, Asuma is a jounin, the library is at your disposal."

"Yeah, easy for you to say."

"Certanly it is easy for me to say, I've done it."

"Hmmmf." Ino didn't find what to answer so she tried the exercise again with same result."

"Ughhhh!"

"Don't worry, I've heard that eggs are good for your skin. Ok, I think I should be going."

"You are leaving?"

"Well, yes. Anre didn't look how I was doing all the time also and I have something important to do. My mom is coming today for a visit."

"Your mom? You mean …."

"Yeah, we settled our differences, found a compromise."

"That's great, I'd hug you, but …" Imo motioned to her egg stained clothes.

"Yeah, I think I'll pass. Well, good luck Ino, there is really no tricks for this thing, just concentrate and practice."

"Yeah, yeah." Ino charged the needle again and again ended up with an egg all over her face. Sakura giggled and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"So, this is the place?" Rin asked her husband as they stoped before Anre's house.

"Yes, this is the place."

"Doesn't seem too bad. Ok, lets go."

The pair went to the door and knocked. Less then a minute later the door was opened by Sakura who smiled immediately when she saw who came.

"Hello dear, we are here, like promised." Rin said looking over her daughter who was wearing a dress her mother never remembered buying, so she concluded that Sakura kept on buying new things time to time. Jounin's payments, not to mention sharing the bounty for S-rank missing nin was more then enough to afford it.

"Come in, don't just stand there. I'll go get tea." Sakura skipped to the kitchen while her parents took off their footwear and went inside.

"Welcome, please, make yourself right like at home." Anre's voice came from the sofa. He looked as he was busy working on yet another scroll. A writing brush was behind his ear and he looked a bit frustrated. He then made some adjustments to the scroll but still didn't look satisfied so he wrapped up the scroll and placed it on the shelf.

"Excuse me, work. As I was saying, welcome."

Rin noticed that Anre wore a strange T-shirt that had one long sleeve, hiding most of his left hand, while the visible part was covered in bandages.

"Do you mind if I go to the kitchen to help Sakura?" Rin asked after looking around. She was amazed by the amount of literature in Anre's house.

"Be my guest." Anre waved his hand showing where the kitchen was before settling back on the sofa. Rin nodded and went looking for her daughter. She found her humming on some tune, while preparing tea and something to eat.

"Can I help?" Rin asked crossing the hands on her chest looking at Sakura.

"Oh? Sure, can you get the cups from the cupboard overthere, pink ones."

Rin went to the cupboard and found it well stacked with not only cups. She took four pink ones and smirked as they were decorated in pink cherry petals.

"You always liked pink."

"Still do." Sakura brushed her long pink hair that was as usual held in a ponytail.

"Why do you keep your hair tied, I though you liked to let them loose."

"Yeah, but it is more practical this way, but I always let them loose before going to bed or if we with Anre go out."

"I see. Anything else?" Rin placed four now washed cups on a table."

"No, thanks. How do you like our house?"

Rin flitched a bit when Sakura said 'our'.

"It is nice. I actually never imagined it to be this way. Anre seems to be the reading type."

"You've noticed, huh." Sakura smirked. "Yes, he likes to read. He has sort of his own private library in his room upstairs. The literature there mostly contains information useful only to a shinobi, but it is interesting also."

"Let me help." Rin looked as Sakura balanced the four cups and a teapot on her fingers.

"Oh, no need, I use charka to keep them steady, you can take a cake though." Sakura pointed with her eyes to a chocolate cake behind her. Rin nodded dumbly as she saw her daughter walk out of the kitchen with grace of a cat.

Just as the four were preparing the tea there was another knock on the door. Sakura wanted to go check it out, but Anre beat her to it. He senced a familiar charka signature behind the door.

"Hiashi-sama, pleased to see you again. What do we own a honor of you visiting us today?" Anre spoke politely, yet with no surprise in his voice. Hiashi looked around and saw Sakura's parents.

"Greetings" he bowed his head in. "Did I come in a wrong time?"

"No, I don't think so. Care to join us?" Anre looked behind him and saw a smiling Sakura and Sakura's parents with mouths opened. It was rare for people like them to meet someone like Hiashi, the leader of a noble ninja clan, yet alone share tea with him.

"I'd love to, but must decline your offer. Anre-san, I need to speak to you." Anre looked back again and Sakura's eyes a bit saddened, but she quikly nodded.

"Very well Hiashi-sama. How long will it take?"

"It depends."

"I see. Let us walk outside, there are guests in my house and I wouldn't want to make them hear the matters of the shinobi life."

"Certanly."

Anre pulled a cape out of the closet and put it on. The cape had a hood, so it made Anre look as mysterious as when he wore his ninja attire. After Anre put on his footwear two of them walked outside.

The silence in the room was broken when Sakura silently began pouring tea into the cups.

"That was Huuga Hiashi." Rin stated.

"Yep."

"Huuga Hiashi came to your house." She stated again.

"Not for the first time."

"You mean he comes often?" Rin gaped at her daughter.

"No, but he did come once for an important reason, then we got invited to a fancy dinner at the Huuga estate and now we both have direct acsess there, so we often go to train at their training grounds when we need to sharpen our individual skills."

"You can go into the huuga estate?" Rin's eyes threatened to pop out of the sockets.

"Well, yeah. Cake?" Sakura picked up a slice.

"Me please." Sakura's father percked up as he loved cake. Sakura quikly placed a slice on a plate and handed it to him

"I hope I didn't really interrupt anything."

"It is of no concerne right now, what did you want to speak about?" Hiashi walked next to Anre, who had his cape and hood covering his figure.

"Neji told me about the ….. test you participated in."

"Yes, that was most interesting. Hope I didn't hurt him that much?"

"No, he is fine you only bruised his pride." Hiashi heard Anre chuckele under his hood.

"He also told me that you did something nobody had done … ever. You stopped one of the most powerful attacks of the Huuga clan."

"Yes, I did."

"How did you do it?"

"What you want to ask, if am I able to teach others to do so." Anre stated. Hiashi didn't answer, but Anre knew he hit the spot.

"Don't worry Hiashi-sama, I can not. Only those who have sighned my binding contract will have such an ability and I think that won't ever be too many people."

"I understand, but still, how?"

"Hiashi-sama as a shinobi you do understand that I would prefer not to mention my secrets out loud. What I will say is that I have an ability to manipulate time, to a certain degree. Your clan's attack has it all, power, speed, precinction, but I can work in the field it does not cover. Your speed doesn't matter, if the time around you slows down."

Hiashi was shocked by Anre's explanation. "But how is that possible?"

"I have told you enough Hiashi-sama. I do not ask about byakugan and your clan's secrets because I respect them. I have secrets too."

Hiashi was taken back, but admitted to himself that Anre was right. It was already unethical that he even asked Anre to share his secret.

"Then I thank you for your time. I will keep what you say in mind. Have a pleasant evening Anre-san."

"I will. Hope I helped Hiashi-sama."

"You did." Hiashi bowed his head and left. Anre turned around and walked back to his house.


	46. Chapter 46

Chapter 46 Old enemy.

A trembleing man stood before four figures dressed in strange cloacks decorated with red clouds. One of them, the one with raven hair, hel him by the collar of his clothes.

"P-please, don't kill me…… I-I'll do anything you want."

"Oh, you will, you even do not have a choice in the matter." The trembleing man was forced to stare into the eyes of the Uchiha, stare into the spinning sharingan.

"Now listen to me very carefully."

"Tsunade-sama, there is a client here, he claims he wants to order an A-rank mission." Shizune peacked into the office.

"Really, then send him in." Passing an A-rank was not an option and besides, anything better than paperwork. Soon a well dressed man came in.

"Hokage-sama." He bowed politely.

"Pleased to meet you, mr…."

"I would prefer to keep incognito if I may. You see I am an artist, well known in some circles, so I prefer to travel without leaving too many trails."

"I see, so what kind of services you want from the village?"

"I want escorts. The roads are dangerous and as I said, I am an artist. A great artist I might add."

"Really? Then why are you willing to pay for escorts as for an A-rank?"

"Because I want the best escorts available. My route and other detailes are in this scroll."

The man handed Tsunade a simple looking scroll.

"Very well, lets see." Tsunade unraveled the scroll and began reading. The moment she began her eyes widened and a drop of sweat went down her neck.

"Hmmm, I understand. Well, I have a team that will do just nicely. Hand the payment to my secretary, I will do the needed paperwork. The team will meet you by the gates tomorrow morning." Tsunade put the scroll in her drawer.

"Thank you hokage-sama, pleasure doing business with you."

"Likewise." Tsunade smiled and the man left her office after giving a polite bow. The second he left the expression on Tsunade's face changed.

"Shizune, get Anre's team in here ASAP!"

Sasuke and his team met their client in the morning, just like they were told. Now, a day alter they were approaching the border of the fire country. The trip was fairly uneventful. Their client didn't talk much and some of the members of Sasuke's team weren't very talkative aswell, Gaara for instance. Yet the weather was good and it seemed so peaceful and relaxing. Sometimes a boring, yet peaceful mission wasn't so bad. Suddenly their client dropped on the ground. Haku and Hinata rushed to him, only to find him out cold, while Gaara and Sasuke took on defencive positions. Then four figures appeared on the branches of the tree surrounding the road. All of them wore black cloacks decorated with red clouds. Sasuke immediately recognized two of them. One was a tall man with bluesh skin, know by the name Kisame, another was his own brother Uchiha Itachi. Two other were unknown. One was a bit feminine looking young man with long blonde hair in a ponytail, another wore a strange orange mask with a single eyehole. Doe to the cloack and mask it was hard to tell anything else about him.

"Subaku no Gaara, you will come with us, yeah." The blonde said. In response Gaara crossed his arms and sand began coming out of the gourd on his back.

"They always want to do it the hard way." Kisame grinned.

"Deidara-sensei, we will fight them? Huh?" the one with a mask asked the blonde making him frown.

"Shut up Tobi!"

"Awww, you are no fun."

"This is not a laughing matter ….." Deidara didn't go on as a tendril of sand shot right at him, tearing the top of tree down.

"You'd better go, it is me they are after." Gaara said calmly.

"Sorry, not an option, Gaara." Sasuke said getting into a combat stance facing his brother.

"Noble, but stupid, you should've run when you could." Itachi said jumping down and walking towards Sasuke. He was stopped when an arrow landed between him and Sasuke. Itachi's expression didn't change as he turned his head and saw a pink haired girl standing atop another tree, her bow drawn and an arrow aimed straight at him.

"Heh, a single brat …." Kisame laughed, but was stopped, avoiding a sword slash. Kisame landed on the ground next to Itachi and drew his sword, glaring at the figure in black, crouching on the tree branch, where he used to stand.

"You were saying?" Itachi mocked his partner.

"Deidara-sensei, there is another one!" Tobi pointed in another direction. "And he is … ewww, that's gross." Tobi saw bugs crawling out of Shino's sleeves and flying around.

"Hey! Don't forget about me!" Everyone turned around and saw Naruto standing atop another tree. In his hand was a weapon that in a way resembled one of Asuma's knuckle blades, only this one had blades on both sides. Naruto picked this weapon as it went well with his style of using shadow clones. Weapons like swords or other with longer reach were dangerous when using in the crowd. The weapon blazed with wind charka as it was made of metal Naruto got for his birthday.

"Dobe." Sasuke smircked.

"hmm, seems that thing became a bit more complicated." Itachi said looking around.

"We can still do it, yeah."

"I'll take the one in black, we have a score to settle." Kisame drew his huge sword and pointed at Anre. "It took Samebada a whole month to grow the destroyed section back."

"Fine by me." Anre gripped the 'grass cutter' tighter. "Shino, you and Gaara, take the blonde gerder confused bastard, Naruto, you help Haku and Hinata hold off Itachi, Sakura and Sasuke, the masked one."

"Hey! Who are you calling gerder confused?!" Deidara held up his fist, while Tobi laughed his head off.

"That's a good one, they may have a point there Deidara-sensei."

"You shut up, or I'll kill you, I'll pick a painful death."

"Why pick? You will just blow me up."

At the same time Sasuke glared at Itachi, but backed off.

"Ain't going to try and kill me, brother?"

"If I have to choose between killing you and helping my friends, I choose the second."

"Heh." A glimpse of what seemed to be a smile appeared on Itachi's face, but it immediately disappeared.

"Raaaaaghhh!" Kisame grew tired of waiting and jumped at Anre, pulling his giant sword back. Anre parried and they both disappeared in the trees. That was like a signal for everyone else. Deidara jumped on the back of a huge bird that seemed to be made of some sort of clay. He was followed by Gaara and Shino who rode the small islands of sand created by Gaara. Tobi blurred out of the way, followed by Sakura and Sasuke, so the only people left on the road were Itachi who was surrounded by Naruto, Haku and Hinata.

"So,you decided to separate us. A wise tactic." Itachi said.

"Yes, and it will give us time to settle our matters at hand." Naruto pulled out a scroll and tossed it to Itachi.

"What's the matter brat, you were better the last time we met!" Kisame kept on pushing Anre further into the forest. His large sword gave him a farther reach, making Anre keep his distance and mostly rely on speed. Finally the two fighting figures came to a small clearing.

"Water style: water bullets!" Kisami performed a jutsu that sent hunks of compressed water at Anre, who catweeled out of the way and formed his own seals.

"Water style: water spear no jutsu." Kisame leapt into the air to avoid getting a good sized hole in his chest. While in mid air Kisame saw a demon shuriken fly straight at him, blazing with electricity.

"Damn!" Kisame swore and twisted in mid air, using his large sword as a counterweight. That was when a second shuriken came and almost hit Kisame. Instead of being woulnded Kisame saw that his akatsuki cloack was barely holding together.

"Water element: tendrils of the octopus no jutsu!" Eight long tendrils made of water flew out from behind Kisame's back. Anre dodged, but failed to see one of the tendrils wrap around his leg. Immidiately other tendrils wrapped around him and turned to blades. To Kisame's surprise Anre's body turned to water.

"A clone…hrrppgfff." Kisame looked down and saw a blade sticking out of his chest. "Heh, not good enough." Kisame also turned to water.

"Cleaving strike!" Kisame dropped from above, but just before he hit the figure in black another one, exactly the same emerged from the shadow of a nearby tree. Kisame saw that this one had a familiar jutsu around his hand, the one that creted thousands of water blades around Anre's fist. The figure Kisame was aiming at turned to water and Kisame decided to reserve to his ultimate defence.

"Shield of the shark scales!" Kisames's sword released all the charka it sucked in during the years and formed a huge shield around Kisame that looked as if it was made of shark scales.

"SHOCKING FIST!" Anre yelled thrusting his now fully activated jutsu forward. The teckniques fought for dominance for some time, until in a huge explosion that sent the trees around falling down, Kisame and Anre were sent flying into opposite directions. The force ripped the remains of Kisame's cloack off, while Anre lost his hood, mask and the shoulder pad. Both landed without much grace, receiving each their own sets of cuts and bruises and ripping the rest of their clothes. Anre skitted and slid, leaving a trail on the ground behind him. Kisame bounced off the ground and broke through a nearly fallen tree, tearing it down completely. Between them now was a huge crater.

"Uggghhhh, I hate that move you've got brat!" Kisame stood up, using his sword as support. On the other end of the now much larger clearing Anre got up also, clutching his side.

"It seems I've succeeded." Anre smircked.

"What are you talking about? We are both on the same level. I know you can still fight, and you know I can still fight."

"Yes, but we both are rather tired and wounded. I think it is time to finish it."

"Huh?" Kisame looked puzzeled and then saw a thick mist crawling out of the forest. Kisame turned to Anre and saw the smircking figure get consumed by the mist. When Kisame couldn't see farther then several feet he heard a sickening laugh. It was followed by a voice that made Kisame shiver.

"There are eight points on human body that cause almost instant death. Which to choose?"

Kisame saw a blurry silouette charge at him, but just before the clash it disappeared. Then it came from the other side and again disappeared.

"_Got to get out of this mist_." Kisame though and began running, but was forced to turn when another figure came into view. That was repeated several times, until.

"Water element: water prison no jutsu." A low voice said and Kisame found himself sorrounded by water, unable to escape. Immidiately the mist lifted, revealing a tall figure maintaining the jutsu. He had half of his face hidden by bandages and he had a huge sword on his shoulder.

"Zabusa?" Kisami recognized one of the swordsmen of the mist.

"Correct, Kisame. Ironic that we meet like this. Though it is the last time we meet I have to say."

"Why do you help him?"

Zabusa smircked under the wraping that was covering his lower face and turned his head, showing the headband with the leaf symbol. Kisame's eyes widened.

"So you had this planned all along. The brat forcing me to use my ultimate defence and then you coming in to finish the job?"

"More or less. It was a double layer ambush."

"How did you know?"

"Well, let me say it this way. Some of you are not what they seem." Zabusa smircked again. "But what do you care, you will die today. Anre!"

The figure in black appeared in front of Kisame in a puff of smoke.

"Want to have the honor? You do have a blade worthy of tasting the blood of one of the swordsmen of the mist."

Anre usually didn't like killing, just like he said during the introductions when he became genin, but in the case of Kisame he decided to make an exeption.

"Akatsuki will fail." Anre declared pulling out his sword. "You have failed." Anre thrust his blade forward, piercing Kisame's throat. The water Zabusa used for the jutsu turned red. A minute later he released the jutsu allowing Kisame's body fall on the ground.

"Heh, seems there is a new swordsman of the mist now." Zabusa said looking at Anre.

"I don't want that."

"Perhaps, but it is not for you to choose. If one of us is bested by another swordsman, that other takes his place. Those are the rules."

"And what does it mean for me?"

"Nothing, except for the fact that now you will be considered as one of the seven most powerful swordsmen there is."

Anre nodded and came up to Kisame's body and slid the ring off his hand, while Zabusa sealed Kisame's sword in a scroll.

"Seven there were and seven there always will be." Zabusa said as they were finished.

"So be it." Anre pulled out a spare mask and put it on. Zabusa noticed that Anre had a bloody stain spreading on his side.

"You alright to go?"

"Yes, I am still good to fight, though we most likely won't have to. Lets go." Anre began moving towards the forest next to Zabusa, while clutching his side and wincing under the mask.


	47. Chapter 47

Author note: Before the chapter, just a word, I know perfectly well that Tobi is actually Uchiha Madara in the manga. But I really liked the theory that existed before his identity was revealed. I used it in the fic.

Chapter 47 An even older friend

"So, you will be Tobi's little playmates. Good."

The akatsuki member with a mask suddenly stopped running and turned around.

"Fire element: Grand fireball no jutsu!" Sasuke spat out a huge fireball, burning down the tree.

"Awww, you hurt the tree." Tobi said appearing behind Sakura with a kunai in hand. Just before getting struck she puffed away, leaving a twig on the ground.

"Whoah, no seals, impressive." Tobi said, sidestepping an arrow aimed at him, then another one.

"Take that!" Sasuke threw a barrage of kunai at Tobi, who easily blocked them until suddenly a kunai in his hand was replaced with a pink haired girl, who grabbed his arm, her own palms glowing with charka.

"Aghhh!" Tobi felt pain in his arm and released Sakura, who immediately puffed away, revealing Sasuke a mere meter away from Tobi, with a turned on chidori.

"Chidori!" Sasuke yelled, but Tobi suddenly used his good arm to make the jutsu pass him and kicked Sasuke in the chest, forcing him to leap away. Before getting struck he saw something strange.

"Ohhh, Tobi has fun." The akatsuki member used a healing jutsu to heal his arm.

"Sakura, I know it sounds crazy, but this guy has the sharingan!"

"Awww, you mean my eye thingy? Cool isn't it, I noticed you have one too and so does Uchiha-san."

"How is this possible?"

Tobi shrugged. "Dunno, but Tobi is a good boy, he has to obey and Tobi was ordered to kill you. So …. "

Tobi sank underground.

"Can't see him." Sasuke looked around.

"Fire element: Volcanic eruption!" a voice came from under ground and immediately the ground began shaking, until out of several places fire began leaking out. It wasn't normal fire, it indeed resembled lava, and Sasuke found himself on a small island. The trees were immediately set on fire as the lava/fire touched them. Sasuke covered his face as the heat was unbearable. From the tree that was just about to be put on fire Sakura appeared. She pulled out a scroll while in mid air and forced charka into it. The scroll immediately exploded in a huge amount of water, that put out the fire, raising steam.

"Sasuke, look out!" Sakura screamed still in mid air as Tobi raised from the now scortched ground behind Sasuke, but it was too late. The Uchiha managed to avoid the leathal strike, but the kunai held by Tobi stil hit his shoulder, causing a deep wound. That was followed by a kick in the chest, then jaw, until Tobi jumped back avoiding an arrow, then another and soon it seemed as a whole rain of arrows was coming right towards him.

"No, Tobi sees." Tobi caught the single arrow that was real. The other disappeared as they were merely illusions.

"Acid cloud no jutsu!"

A green cloud appeared in the sky and began to lower down on the clearing where the fight took place.

"Oh, crap, we can't escape that! What are you doing? You will die too!" Sakura yelled from a tree.

"Tobi knows, but Tobi has to obey, but Tobi was never told that Tobi shouldn't die also. Tobi is sorry." The akatsuki member lowered his head.

Suddenly some sort of a portal appared in the sky and the cloud was sucked into it.

"Huh?" Tobi looked into the sky. Another portal appeared right next to him. The shocked akatsuki member jumped into the air to avoid getting sucked into another dimension. Sasuke ran forward and jumped into the air, but Tobi was too high up. That was when a kunai flew out from a tree. When it was next to Sasuke it was replaced with Sakura who used her momentum to launch Sasuke higher. The Uchiha kicked Tobi into the face, cracking the mask, then performed the lion combo on him and finally when his enemy was upside down wrapped his arms and legs around him, making the akatsuki member fall head down.

"FALCON DROP!" Sasuke declared before the crash. When the dust settled it revealed a dirty, tired looking Sasuke, standing over a body in a torn up cloak.

"Ughhhh." Sasuke dropped to the knees clutching his shoulder. Next to him appeared Sakura, who immediately began working. Then Kakashi appeared, rubbing his sharingan eye. The new jutsu he used from cover took a lot of charka.

"Nice trick." Sasuke said.

"I'll show you later, it is based on the sharingan. Now, lets see."

"He had the sharingan."

"Strange, that shouldn't be possible."

"You telling me?" Sasuke frowned and the bit his lip as Sakura applied some balsam on his wound to prevent infection.

Kakashi approached the body of the akatsuki member and found him still alive, but out cold. He pulled off the cracked mask and paled. The face he saw shold be impossible for him to see. Before him lied, missing his left eye, his old friend he thought dead.

"SAKURA! Over here, quikly!"

On the ground was Uchiha Obito.

Deidara laughed as his bird dodged yet another strike from the sand tendrils that Gaara controlled. So far it was a wild ride, but the sand user seemed unable to pin down the fast moving creation.

"Haha. My art can not be stopped. But I think it is time to show ou the true face of my art. Art is a blast!" The mouths in Deidara's hands produced several small birds made of clay. By feeding some chackra into them he turned them into the bigger replicas. The clay creations flew towards Gaara and Shino standing beside him. The sand couldn't stop them, but suddenly several clouds of Shino's bugs appeared an attacked the clay creations, sucking the charka out of them, thus disarming the explosive creations. That didn't make Deidara happy.

"My art! How dare you do that to fine art!" Deidara began producing a creation after creation, but with the same result. That continued until Gaara summoned even more sand from the ground, now trying to trap the fast opponent in a giant sphere of sand.

"Hah!" Deidara's hands created a small figure that with charka turned into a huge clay replica of a bear that fell down and in huge explosion created a hole in the sand barrier for him to escape through. What deidara failed to see, was that woman appred next to Gaara on his sand island and that woman was going through hand seals, her red eyes concentrated on the flying figure.

The hole Deidara flew through caused him to lower down to the forest level, flying just above the trees. Suddenly he saw vines shoot out from the forest, and the forest itself to rise. No matter how fast his bird was, the nature was faster. The explosions also didn't seem to affect it. Deidara figured the secret out too late. The genjutsu fell when Gaara's sand caught a distracted opponent.

"Desert Coffin." The sand tightly wrapped itself around the akatsuki member. Shino's bugs sucked the charka out of the bird figure to prevent it from exploding and then did the same to Deidara, leaving just enough for to keep him alive.

"Naruto-kun, what does it mean?" Hinata asked as Naruto tossed Itachi a scroll. With a single flick of his hand Itachi unrolled it and his eye scanned whatever was written on it.

"So it is time." He said finally.

"What time, what is he talking about, Naruto?" Haku spoke up this time.

"It is time for the ANBU captain of the village of Konoha, to return from a long term spy mission." Naruto answered.

"Wait, I thought he murdered his own clan and joined the akatsuki after."

"I did." Itachi said.

"Then …. I am really confused." Hinata blincked looking between Naruto and Itachi.

"Yeah, I was too, and can't say that I got over the shock also." Naruto answerd glaring at the Uchiha. "Lets go, we have a randevouz point."

"But what about Sasuke and the others?" Haku protested.

"They'll be fine.' Naruto answered. "We modified your plan Itachi-san. If I am correct your partners are in for a big surprise."

"I see." Itachi nodded and unbuttoned his cloack, throwing it on the ground. Underneath it was a standard ANBU armor.

"What about him?" Hinata pointed at the prone figure of their client.

"He will wake up, not remembering a thing." Itachi answered and turned to Naruto. "Lead the way."

"Hey, will you tell us what the hell is going on?" Haku fumed.

"If I tell you now I will have to tell it again once others come, so lets wait, because it so complicated I don't think I even get it completely."

The group quikly traveled to a small secluded cave on the bank of a small stream several kilometers away. To Haku' and Hinata's surprise inside were several sleeping bags, some food and medical supplies.

"We prepared this place in advance." Naruto explained.

"Huh? Oh, I see." Haku nodded and sat down. Itachi lighted up the prepared firewood and sat down on one of the sleeping bags, staring at the fire. Hinata snuggled next to Naruto. She felt very uncomfortable around Itachi, as she remembered the first time they met.

There was no talking, until two hours later they heard footsteps.

"Next time you can tire out Kisame and I can be the ambush." Anre's tired voice came, followed by a laugh in which Haku immediately identified Zabusa. The next moment two figures walked inside the cave. Anre slumped into a sitting position and breathed out in relief.

"Anre, you are bleeding." Hinata said getting up.

"I know, but it isn't too bad."

"Nonsense. Now let us see." The medics in Hinata and Haku woke up.

"Fine." Anre took off his vest and pulled up the shirt revealing the wound. It seemed that some of the chackra blades from his own jutsu were deflected back and one of them slightyl touched him. That left a long deep wound, if it's edges burnt b the electrical charka in the jutsu. "Naruto?" Anre looked at his comrade.

"My clones took cover around the perimeter. Other routes are trapped, just as we agreed."

"Good." Anre relaxed and let the girls tend his wound. "You don't tire yourselves. I ain't going to die and others might have some way more serious wounds."

The girls nodded. They still stopped the bleeding and applied healing balsams to prevent infection, after that bandages were applied. Haku also ran a diagnostic jutsu, but found nothing worse the a fractured shoulder bone and some bad bruises.

"You should be fine." Haku finally said and went over to Zabusa to see if he needed any medical attention. Anre nodded and looked up at Itachi.

"I trust you received the message."

Itachi nodded.

"Good. Hope Sasuke gets here conscious. I'd hate to see him attempt a murder back at the village." Anre winced readjusting himself and pulling back his shirt, hiding the bandages that now covered his side.

"We will see." Itachi replied and kept on staring at the fire.

The next group that came in was the one that faced Deidara. The tied up Akatsuki member was carried by Gaara's sand. There was also a charka suppressing seal on the akatsuki member. Gaara looked at Itachi, but only shrugged when Anre told him to wait for others.

Finally the last group came. Sasuke clutching his shoulder, was helping a very tired looking Sakura. At the same time Kakashi was carrying another Akatsuki member. Sasuke and Hinata demanded to tie him up and place the charka suppressing seal on him. Only on those conditions Sakura agreed to help him. Sasuke's last combo did a number on him, nearly breaking his neck, so she worked for a long time, making sure he would survive. This was the first time she also saw Kakashi look really worried and nervous.

The moment Sasuke entered and looked around he saw Itachi.

"You, what are you doing here." Sasuke growled activating his sharingan.

"Nice to see you two little brother." Itachi raised his hand and caught Sasuke's wrist that had an activated chidori.

"Should I make you unable to move, or shall you listen?"

"Stand down Sasuke." Anre ordered. "I really suggest you listen, trust me, you need to hear this."

"I waited all my life to kill him, why listen?" Sasuke's voice dripped with malice as he looked at his brother.

"Because I can tell you the truth." Itachi answered.

"Truth? What truth. I already know what you did that fateful night. You killed our whole clan."

"Yes, I did. But did you ever think why?"

"You said it yourself, to test your own power."

"Sasuke, you know pretty well, that I knew the extention of my power. Why test it?"

Sasuke didn't answer.

"Sasuke, you will always have time to fight, but if you do, you will never have a chance to hear what he has to say." Haku said pulling his arm.

Sasuke glared at her, but then his expression softened and he closed his eyes. When he opened them, they no longer had sharingan.

"Talk." Sasuke sat down next to Haku.


	48. Chapter 48

Chapter 48 The truth

Itachi looked at Sasuke and then turned back to the fire.

"I am Uchiha Itachi and it is true that I have killed my whole clan. I did it for a purpose and by the orders of the third hokage and the Konoha council." Itachi raised his hand stopping any attempts to ask a question form others. "The Uchiha clan was one of the clans that founded Konoha. For some time things went on well, but as time moves on the way people think changes. Some of us began to think that we as as the clan that founded the village should have more power in it, or rather all the power. Such thoughts spread, until majority of the clan shared the idea. The first attempt to take control took place 15 years ago on the 10th of October. Trying to trick to demon fox after summoning it via long forgotten rituals proved successful. But not even the sharingan of a whole clan can control the demon lord. It all resulted in the fox going berserk, due to an emotional trauma caused by the illusion created by the sharingan. The results of that night are known all too well. The Uchiha clan suffered serious losses that night and the idea of taking rule over Konoha had to wait for several years. The next attempt never took place. I being the most powerful of the Uchiha back then was supposed to be a weapon. But I never shared the idea of the Uchiha superioucity and informed the council and the hokage about the Uchiha plan. After that I was given an order to …… stop my own clan, permanently. I had to choose between Konoha and my family and the choice was made. Everyone in the clan knew about the plan except one person. The one who survived that night." Itachi looked at Sasuke who had an unreadable expression on his face and two tears slowly sliding down his cheeks. Itachi sighed and continued. "The hokage couldn't claim to the village that the Uchiha's were traitors if his evidence were the words of the man that had slain the whole clan. So I was claimed as a missing nin and ordered to join the organization called Akatsuki and work as a spy, since I now had a perfect legend. The third had all the events documented to have the proof that I … "

"That you were innocent." Sasuke finished for him.

"No. To prove that I acted on the orders of hokage and the council. I did kill my own clan, so I am not innocent."

Itachi finished his tale. Sasuke silently stood up and left the cave going out into the night. Haku wanted to follow him, but was stopped by Shino who shook his head.

"Let him be alone for now." Naruto vocalized what Shino meant and Haku sat back down.

"Itachi-san, if what you tell is true, why did you attempt to kill Naruto back then?" Hinata asked narrowing her eyes.

"I didn't try to kill him. If I would, he would be dead. I tried to use my tsukomi to force the nine tailed fox to show himself and convince it to give Naruto his power. That would give me a good enough reason to retreat and not blow my cover. It didn't work the way I planned, but still worked."

Suddenly Kakashi stood up.

"Now I have a question Itachi. How come the one who I though was dead for over 19 years was a part of your organization.

Itachi looked up curious. "I assume you are talking about Tobi. He became the actual member after Sasori's death." Itachi glanced at Anre. "Before that he followed another member, Zetsu. He always wore a mask and I never saw him fight. Zetsu only said that he was his little secret project."

"You know he is a Uchiha like you. Uchiha Obito. How is it possible?! I saw him be crushed by a rock, I have his eye im my skull!" Kakashi yelled.

"Zetsu is able to reform any biological form of life if there is enough of the biomass for that. My hypothesis is that he found the body of your friend and since his body was as you say crushed it was more then enough for Zetsu to work on. The only thing he couldn't recreate was his left eye, for obvious reasons. I know that Zetsu can not reform bodies if they are burned to a certain degree."

"But why did Obito follow him? And why did he call himself Tobi?"

"Zetsu has ways of controlling his …. creations by placing a seal on them. I guess he didn't want anyone to know that he had a Uchiha next to him, that is why he made up the name Tobi and ordered Obito to act differently. Ofcourse you friend didn't have a word in it."

Kakashi pulled up Obito's torn shirt and saw a complex seal on his back.

"Naruto, I will need lots of charka to cut this seal off Obito's charka system and seal it. Hinata, I could use the help of the byakugan." Kakashi unrolled one of the scrolls that was in his pocket.

Itachi looked at them and nodded getting up. He slowly walked out into the night looking for the last member of his family.

Itachi found Sasuke pounding on the tree, releaving stress. The poor tree already looked like it was ready to fall and was shaking violently after each hit.

"The tree did nothing wrong."

Sasuke spun around. "I want to ask you a question." That was a demand.

"Fine, but I will ask one also."

"Ask first."

"Why did you believe me. Don't lie, I see you did."

"My friends believe you. My teachers belive you. And most importantly I wanted to believe you. Even after what yo told me that night I couldn't just hate you. I forced myself to hate you. I tried to ignore anything that could distract me. I wanted to become an avenger, to have only one purpose, killing you. That obviously didn't work, but my ambition did result in some …. disasterous effects."

"I thought that hate would help you go on, to cope woth the loss."

"Cope with the loss? A good way to put it. I never coped with it. I just exchanged my sorrow for the hate." Sasuke kicked the tree again finally tearing it down. "And now, I can't hate you. If I only had hate in my heart I would be empty right now, Itachi."

"And you have something else?"

"Yes, I do. It feels better then I thought it would."

"Then why tear down a tree?"

"I also feel anger. You know I worshiped you. Then I felt betrayed by you. Now I have you back. I feel angry for meaningless hatred I carried in my heart for all these years."

"I understand. It wasn't easy for me also. If you need to know, I didn't kill our mother. She didn't know about the plan aswell. When I explained she took my side and well, father didn't take it so good ….. What did you want to ask?"

Sasuke looked straight into Itachi's eyes. "Why did you choose Konoha?"

"Hard to answer. That girl Haku, you like her?"

"Yes, so?"

"Well, imagine a situation. You know she plans treason. You have to choose between her and all your other friends. What do you choose?" Sasuke's eyes widened. He shook his head.

"I can't choose."

"Lets hope you never will have to make that kind of choice. Because with that choice you sacrifice part of your soul."

The brothers looked at each other in silence for several minutes.

"I missed you …. Big brother."

"Yeah, I missed you too, Sasuke. But I will tell you this, you have grown up."

"How come?"

"You do not let your feeling cloud your judgement, that is a trait of an adult."

"Heh." Sasuke smirked.

"Kakashi?" Obito opened his only eye and saw his old friend. Kakashi has just finished sealing up the complex seal on Obito's back in the same way he once sealed Sasuke's. Unlike the curse seal, this one was not influenced by the person's emotions, so it was completely disabled.

"Yeah, it is me?"

"I am sorry, I couldn't control myself."

"I know, Itachi explained."

"It is good to see you again. Still wearing the mask I see."

"Yeah. You know, I thought you were dead."

"I thought so too." Obito sat up looking around. "Can I have those?" Obito pointed at the bandages on Hinata's lap.

"S-sure." She handed the man the strips of white cloth and Obito quikly bandaged up his empty eye socket, creating a sort of eyepatch."

"So, I guess I missed a lot. Care to introduce me to your friends?" Obito laughed. Kakashi blinked and smiled under his mask. "You don't change, do you? You have just been released from a several year long slavery and the first thing you want me to do is introduce you?"

"Well, it is sort of polite and I want to get up to date information about Konoha shinobi. Besides, I feel sick of calling myself Tobi and wearing that mask. Sheesh, that Zetsu, idiot couldn't even come up with a good name."

"Fine, fine. Now, lets see. The blonde with the wisker marks is Uzumaki Huuga Naruto and next to him is his fiancée Huuga Hinata." Obito smiled at that. "The one in glasses is Shino of the Aburame clan. The one with the gourd Gaara of the desert. The pink haired girl is Haruno Sakura and next to her is Rakizi Anre, her fiancée." Obito smiled again. "The gorilla with a huge sword is Momochi Zabusa." Zabusa showed Kakashi a fist. "Next to him is his adopted daughter Momochi Haku. The lady with red eyes is Yuuhi Kurenai. And there is also Uchiha Sasuke among us, but he left for a while."

"Pleased to meet you all. As you know I am Obito of the Uchiha clan."

"Heh. In one day we managed to triple the amount of the Uchihas in Konoha. I guess Sasuke should be happy as his plan to restore the clan is going so well without him even doing anything." Naruto laughed and others joined in.

"Now, let me get this straight. You are Uchiha Obito, have been revieved by the member of the Akatsuki and then were bound to his will by a seal on your back. That was until you were beaten and the effects of the seal were averted by Kakashi." Tsunade sat at her table looking over a very long report. The group of returned ninjas stood next to her.

"That's right." Obito smirked.

"Then I have only one thing to do …… WELCOME TO KONOHA!" Tsunade smiled and everyone sweatdropped.

"That was so clitche oba-chan." Naruto shook his head causing Tsunade to turn red, partly from embaressment, partly from anger as Naruto called her old again.

"Well …ahhh, forget it. Now, thanks to you all I now have a ton of paperwork. But first thing's first." Tsunade reached into her drawer and pulled out two objects.

"Itachi, here is your ANBU mask back. Obito, here is the headband, I will inlist you as Konoha chunin, since you were beaten by one, but in a close fight."

Obito took the headband and placed it over his forehead and laughed. "Took me long enough to get promoted to chunin."

"Yes, well, good work, now you all are dismissed. Itachi, try to walk around wearing a mask for now, making your return not a shoker for the civilian and shinobi population will take time. Shizune, send for Ibiki, tell him we have someone he can play with before we sell him over to the hidden Rock, they seem to have the highest price on him."

The group began to slowly leave the room.

"So, want to go see Rin?" Kakashi approached Obito.

"Later, I want to settle in, catch up on things, in the evening."

"Sure, I understand. I won't tell her anything, make it a surprise."

"Yeah, you do that."

"Fine, you are staying at my place, and I won't hear any objections."

"Why, I mean I can always return to the Uchiha district."

"It is deserted Obito, ever since the … massacre."

"Oh, I see. I forgot."

"Some people still would like to." Kakashi looked at Sasuke walking away with his brother.

"I can see what you want to say."

"So, this is your place?" Itachi looked around a rather big apartment.

"Yes, I live here since I became chunin and could afford it. My old apartment wasn't too bad, but this one is bigger. Haku sometimes spends the night here even." Sasuke saw an amused look Itachi gace him when he took off his mask and scowled. "Don't get any wrong ideas, brother."

"Fine, don't get so personal. Where can I put my things?"

"Just dump them in my room for now. I'll go fix up something to eat."

Sasuke gropped off his backpack and went to the kitchen. Itachi smirked, he missed teasing Sasuke. Sasuke's room was tidy and well organized. There were several scrolls on the small desk, a bookshelf and a small practice target on the wall that had two kunai sticking out of it. Itachi put down his backpack and approached the bedtable that had several pictures on it. One was of Sasuke and Haku in their favourite tea shop. Another showed Sasuke still in team 7, his first genin team. Then there was another similar picture. On it was Sasuke and Kakashi with the a shy looking girl that was obviously a Huuga, and a feral looking boy with a pup, that Itachi didn't know. The girl stood in the middle while Sasuke rolled his eyes looking how his feral teammate flexed his musceles in front of the camera. Itachi took the second one and looked closer.

"What, like the picture?" Sasuke came into the room with a rise ball in hand.

"Your genin team?"

"Yeah, the first one. Kakashi gave us quite a test to see if we were good enough."

"I assume you passed. Wish I could see that."

"I am glad you didn't, it was embarrassing, I got buried in the ground." Itachi blinked and stiffened a laugh. "Sorry, it is just the picture is amusing. You liked your team?"

"Well, we had our differences at first. I sort of managed to cause a lot of trouble, don't like remembering that. By the way, we actually had sort of a fourth member of the group."

"Fourth?"

"Yeah, Anre was the fourth. Well, actually he was a so called special genin. He joined other teams on more dangerous missions, but trained with us. I think Sakura gave me a picture not so long ago." Sasuke went to the shelf and picked up a small photo album, while Itachi put the picture back.

"Lets see, ahh, here it is. I think you remember the first time you met."

Itachi took the photo album and looked at the picture. It showed a young man dressed in black sitting on the ledge surrounding the roof of the hokage tower. Anre's mask and hood were taken off, revealing his face. He was embraced from behind by a pink haired young lady, that was resting her head on his shoulder. She was dressed in gray battle kimono. Itachi recognized the two he saw during the mission.

"Nice picture. I see your former teammates got together."

"Yeah, they are betrothed."

Itachi sat down on the bed and flipped the pages. "You mind?"

"Nah, there is nothing there you shouldn't see and you do need to get in leg with time. Much have happened since your … departure."

"Yeah, I do."

The hospital was as busy as ever. Even if the were few wounded shinobi, common civilian folk always got sick, or got hurt in some way. So Inuzuka Rin always had work to do.

"Hey Rin, long time no see." Kakashi waved as his old teammate came out of one of the rooms after checking up on the patient.

"Kakashi? Oh, hello there, nice to see you."

"I have someone who you would like to see I think."

"huh? Who?"

That was the moment Obito walked out from behind the corner.

"Hi Rin."

"O-O-Obito?" Rin managed to stutter out and fainted.

"I feared she'd so something like that." Kakashi smirked.


	49. Chapter 49

Chapter 49 New inventions

"C'mon Naruto, you can do it!" Hinata cheered for him as Naruto attempted to create a wind element rasengan. Hiashi stood nearby, also interested in results. It was not so long ago that Naruto fully mastered the wind nature charka. He trained non stop since the mission agaist the akatsuki. Now, almost a month later he tried to apply his new skills. Naruto concentrated, trying to turn the now twisting charka to wind nature. Slowly the rasengan began to change colour and even change shape, until …

"Boom!" the jutsu became unbalanced and exploded sending Naruto to the ground. Hinata immediately rushed to him, but Naruto was unhurt.

"Damn. This takes too much concentration. Once I begin to apply wind cahkra I can no longer focus on maintaining the basic rasengan." Naruto swore slowly getting up. "It is like it needs two of me to do it." That last comment made Hinata go deep in though.

"Naruto, maybe I could work to maintain the rasengan, while you apply wind charka?"

"That would work, but in combat you might not be close Hinata-chan, but…. " Naruto's mouth turned to a wide grin as his head was blessed with an idea. "Hinata, you are a genious!"

"I am?"

"Yes! Watch!" Naruto formed the cross shaped seal and a clone appeared. "Step back."

Naruto's clone began forming the rasengan out of the charka the original was supplying, while Naruto began applying the wind natured charka. The rasengan turned to ghostly white and the blades started forming on it's sides, making the jutsu resemble a huge shuriken. The energy began sturring violently, wind began blowing in every direction and it was so powerful that Hiashi and Hinata took a couple of steps back. Finally Naruto dispelled a clone and raised his hand, holding up the jutsu that even the fourth hokage failed to complete.

"He has done it, unbelievable!" Hiashi said looking at the jutsu. Looking at it with the byakugan was blinding him, so he turned the clan bloodline off. The wind bacame even more violent, causing both him and Hinata to back off even further. The jutsu produced a screeching noise and was spinning violently in Naruto's palm. Members of the Huuga clan appeared at the training ground alarmed by the strange noise and the feeling of such powerful charka. Chuncks of earth were pulled from the ground around Naruto and were immediately torn to pieces by the violent winds.

"Impossible, such jutsu." Hiashi muttered.

A minute later Naruto dispelled the jutsu and slumped to his knees, sweating and breathing hard. The training ground around him looked rather torn up and that was just effects of him holding the jutsu. The people around didn't even want to think what would happen to the person struck by that jutsu.

"You did it Naruto." Hinata hugged him from behind.

"Yeah, I did, didn't I. Man, that was hard."

"That was, impressive, amazing even." Hiashi admitted. "Naruto, I have to say, you joining the Huuga clan must have been the best beam of fortune we ever had."

Hinata hugged Naruto tighter.

"Tsunade-sama, Subaku no Kankoruo is here, he says he has got something important to show you."

Tsunade nodded to herself and pressed the button on the intercome. "Send him in."

Moments later the puppet user walked in. He had a rather large package in his hand and was smiling as if he accomplished something important.

"What is it Kankoruo?"

"I've done, hokage-sama, I completed your task."

"So, you actually managed to do it?" Tsunade percked up.

"Yes, again the ideas came from Sasori's puppets." Kankoruo unrolled the package and revealed a mechanical limb. "I didn't put the outer layer, in order to make adjustments if necessary."

"So, that is why it looks so … skeleton like."

"Well, yes, as I said I didn't put the outer layer yet, but in every other way it should work fine."

"You sure?"

"Theoretically, it is not that I can cut my own hand off and stick this one instead."

"I see. How does it work?"

"It has it's own charka pathways and charka emitting units, serving as tenketsus. Temari helped me reconstruct it the closest possible to the actual human anatomy. The person will have to charge it with charka, but will be able to perform jutsu."

"I see, how is it attached?"

"Well, the central core acts as a main carcass for the limb, thus it has to be attached to the bone. The charka pathways in the body should be connected to the ones in the arm, but no blodd vessels and other body liquids must get inside the arm. But how you do that is up to you and other medics Hokage-sama."

"Good, I am impressed. This might help us resolve one of the main medical problems. No matter how good we are, recreating limbs is beyond our power, but now perhaps we can do the next best thing."

"Yes, well, can I go now?"

"No, still have things to discuss with you."

"And that would be?"

"You do understand that if this experiment will be successful we would need such limbs constructed constantly."

"hmm, it took me this much time because I had to create a whole new desighn, not to mention look into Sasori's methods of creating pathways for charka in puppets. The creation of such a limb now that I know how to do it might take 5 days, a week maximum if I to be provided with the needed materials."

"Materials is not a problem, but I cannot ask make you work on this things everytime somebody needs it."

"I am the only puppet user in the village. Either we ask for help from Suna or …. "

"… or you teach somebody to do it." Tsunade finished. Kankoruo chocked.

"Teach? I am no teacher!"

"What, afraid you won't be able to do it?"

"No, but …. "

"then it is settled, now what is needed for a person to becom a puppet master?"

Kankoruo blinked and shook his head.

"Fine. Chakra control above average, charka reserves may not be too big, but still the person has to have some to spare and that is about it. I mean physically. To become a puppet master you need a mind with good imagination and ability to concentrate."

"Hmm. Lets see. Chakra control …. Well, Sakura is too good as a medic to pass up, Haku … it is not her style, Temari .. "

"Hell no, do not even suggest my sister, she hates puppets!" Kankorou yelled.

"Fine, fine, relax. Now, Ino is an option, Tenten is a very good candidate. Huugas could manage, but they are out of the question being part of the clan. Fine I'll look for more candidates. I think you should start with Tenten, she is a weapon specialist and her style will go well with puppets. I will think about Ino and other candidates. For now, here, give this scroll to Asuma and here, this is for you."

Tsunade quikly written something while talking and then handed Kankoruo a chunin vest."

"You mean I got promoted?"

"Yes. You desighned a way for our shinobi to stay in service even after loosing a limb and now will create our own, Konoha's puppet brigades. Still being genin after that is a bit …. Embarrassing, don't you think."

"I hear ya." Kankoruo grinned and saluted Tsunade before leaving.

"Kankoruo, you are late you know." Asuma said looking as one of his students entered the training ground.

"Yeah, I know, but I had to go speak with Tsunade-sama and she gave this, for me to pass to you Asuma-sensei." Kankoruo pulled out the scroll. Chouki, Tenten and Sora looked curiously as Asuma unrolled the scroll and read it.

"Well, well, it seems Kankruo here was promoted to chunin."

"What?" the three remaining genin said.

"And why did the make up boy that plays with puppets get promoted?" Sora asked.

"For the last time, it is war paint and my puppets are lethal weapons!" Kankoruo yelled being pissed off.

"Yeah, yeah, but still."

"Hmm, Kankoruo created some sort of gadget to help the medics and now has to train others to be puppet masters. Heh, good luck Tenten." Asuma chuckeled.

"Huh? Why do you say that?"

"Because you are his student, orders of the hokage."

Tenten looked at Kankoruo then at Asuma then at Sora and Chouji who were on the werge of breaking out in laughter, then at Asuma again. "This has to be some sort of joke." She said in desperation.

"Nope, you are ordered b Tsunade to learn to use puppets."

"Why me?" Tenten raised her hands in frustration.

"One, because you are good with weapons, two because you have good charka control due to your medical training." Kankoruo explained.

Tenten looked defeated. "Fine, I give up, but don't you dare do anything funny."

"Hy, listen, it is not like I wanted to do it. Now lets go."

"Where?"

"My workshop, you need to learn the theory first."

"This is going to be a long day." Tenten moaned following Kankoruo.

Kankoruo's workshop looked like a common workshop, only that there were several puppets hanging from the cealing in the corner and several parts scattered around the room.

"Fine, we are here, lets get over with it." Tenten crossed her arm.

"You know why Tsunade-sama asked me to train other to become puppet masters?"

"Have no idea."

"I desighned the way to create mechanical limbs. If a ninja looses a leg or a hand in combat my invention will not only help him live a better live, but even remain a ninja."

Tenten now was feeling a bit guilty, she had no idea Kankoruo was working on such a noble cause.

"But what does it have to do with me?

"I am the only puppet master in the village, I can not handle the work of producing those things alone and you have to have complete knowledge of the puppets to make one. In other words, there has to be more puppet users. Since you are good with thrown weapons …"

"…. Any weapons." Tenten said.

"Whatever, since you are good with weapons and know human anatomy due to your medical training and have good charka control you are a perfect candidate. Tsunade-sama said that she will look for more though."

"I see. Well, ok, I'll do my best."

"Great, now lets begin with the basics. I judge that you know how to make charka strings." Tenten nodded. Kankoruo smirked and stretched his hand creating five charka strings that attached to a nearby puppet that then immediately jumped down a now stood next to Kankoruo.

"The strength of the puppeteer is determined b the amount of fingers one needs to control a puppet. I need one hand for each puppet."

Tenten nodded.

"One of the elders in Suna, Chiyo, can control 10 at the same time, one puppet per finger."

Tenten nodded again, but was surprised by what she heard.

"Sasori of the red sand, was the greatest puppet user of all times. Anre said that during their battle Sasori controlled hundreds of puppets."

"How is that possible?" Tenten asked, shocked b the news.

"He was the greatest puppet master ever, I learned a lot simply by studying remains of his puppets. His invention of charka pathways inside puppets was the main point in creating those limbs I told you about."

"Ok, I get it, so where do we start?"

"We start at the theory of mechanics."

"Oh boy." Tenten rubbed the back of her head, she clearly expected something else.


	50. Chapter 50

Author note: People, I get several messages a day saying that people add my story into their favorite list. The thing is, I do not get reviews from those people.

Chapter 50.

"So, you finally completed it?" Shino stated. Anre and his team was at the training ground, preparing for their usual training session.

"Yeah, took me long enough, but I finally did it. Didn't have a chance to see it in action yet, but I bet it will be awesome. Hiashi said that I will have to demonstrate it before the commitee in order to get permission to use it in combat." Naruto grinned.

"Most likely yes. The destructive capabilities of the rasengan, multiplied by the cutting abilities of wind charka … I wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of that." Anre said.

"Yeah, you turned out to be a pretty awesome ninja Naruto." Sakura smirked and ruffeled Naruto's hair.

"I know, I am great, I'll be the next hokage and don't you forget it."

"Oh, yes, I am honored to be in your presence." Anre gave a humorous bow and smirked. After that others laughed a bit until finally getting ready for the training session. That was when an Anbu appeared before them.

"You are summoned by the hokage."

Anre nodded. "Training canceled, to the hokage tower."

Tsunade looked over the four ninjas in front of her. What she could tell was that they were in perfect form and were eager to take any mission she had for them.

"Anre, I have and important mission for you and your team."

"Details?"

"In exactly two weeks the fire daimeo will come to Konoha for an annual visit. He comes every four years to inspect the village as he has a very large share in out funding. This time he will take his daughter with him and requested a capable ninja team for her protection. That will be your mission. You are to head out to the daimeo's residence and from there protect his daughter during the visit and while they travel here and back."

"How long will their visit last?"

"Two weeks."

"Where will they take residence."

"At the Huuga estate. Hiashi offered us that and the daimeo agreed. The estate full of Huugas will be perfect for extra protection."

"Understood hokage-sama. Me and my team will do this mission to the best of our abilities."

"I know you will and remember, this one really counts."

The trip to the daimeo residence took only two days for the group of trained ninjas. The passes they had allowed them entry and soon the four young shinobi were in front of the ruler of the fire country. Daimeo was a tall, elderly man with a short fuzzy beard. He wore very expensive robes and was escorted by a pair of samurai dressed in gold plated armor. Anre and his team gave a polite bow as the daimeo turned his attention to them. He nodded in response to their bow.

"You are the team a requested from Konoha?"

"Yes, we are." Anre answered with another bow and pulled out a scroll with the daimeo seal on it. One of the servant quikly passed it to her lord.

"Hmm. You four seem quite young."

"We are all fifteen my lord. And we have proven ourselves in mission where the odds were against us."

"Perhaps. Fine, I trust Tsunade, so I will trust you. Get my daughter in here." The last words were addressed to the servants by the door. They quikly left and several minutes later a young lady around the ninja's age came in dressed in an expensive kimono. Her face was beautiful, yet the expression of pride didn't do her good.

"You called for me father?"

"Yes, Irabi. These four shinobi here will be your protectors during our visit to Konoha."

"These four?" the girl raised an eyebrow. Her father nodded. Daimeo's daughter came closer to the shinobi and observed them. Her eyes stopped at Sakura.

"So unfeminine. A lady with weapons, tsk." She said with a smirk.

"With all respect your highness, being feminine is not a luxury I can afford being a kunoichi."

"Hmpfff." Irabi turned to her father with an offended look on her face.

"She is right daughter. Her clothes are ment for those who are trained to kill." He then turned to Anre. "Anything you need?"

"When wll you leave for Konoha?"

"Tomorrow at noon."

Anre nodded. "I would also like to speak to the head of your guards and I would also suggest on of my teammates to share the room with your daughter, just incase. Ofcource that would be the only female on our group." Anre motioned to Sakura next to him.

"Father, is this really necessary?" Irabi turned to her father. The idea of a kunoichi in her room didn't appeal to her.

"I am afraid so, daughter."

"Ok, father, if that is your will."

Sakura looked around. The daimeo's daughter's room was huge. Everything in it looked like it cost a fortune. The fact that there were several female servant around also gave an atmosphere of luxury. Anre, Naruto and Shino stayed outside. Naruto had his clones patrol the area while Shino and Anre stood at the doors along with several royal samurai.

Irabi tried to ignore the pink haired figure in her room to the best of her ability, but she wasn't used to anyone being in her room she didn't want to.

Sakura silently watched as the daimeo's daughter was prepared for the night by almost a dozen servants. Everything was done very quikly and Irabi went to her bed wearing only her night gown. She took a book and attempted to read, trying to ignore Sakura, but the figure of a pink haired kunoichi with a bow on her back didn't let her concentrate. Finally she put the book away.

"Are you really a ninja?"

"Yes, your highness." Sakura pointed at her forehead protector.

"That thing can be easily forged."

"The forgery of the konoha symbol and wearing it without the rank of the ninja is punishable by death." Sakura replied.

"Oh, I didn't know that."

"You have never seen ninja before, haven't you?" Sakura suggested.

"How did you know?" daimeo's daughter jumped up in her bed.

"Your questions gave it away. How come being a daimeo's daughter you never saw ninjas?"

"Why would I. Nobody ever attempted anything against me. I never leave the palace grounds."

"So, it will be your first time out of the palace?"

"Well, actually yes. I am so sick of staying here all the time, so I made father promise to take me somewhere and since there are few places safer then the village full of shinobi, he decided to take me to Konoha and then sent a request for an escort team. He said also said that if he is taking me, I might aswell learn as much as I can about shinobi and Konoha."

"That is wise." Sakura agreed. "Konoha is one of the five major shinobi villages and thus houses hundreds of shinobi ranking from genin to jounin."

"What rank are you?"

"Jounin. I specialize in medicine and genjutsu."

"Medicine? I admit, I do not know a lot about shinobi, but isn't your primary function killing?"

"Yes, you are right. But killing might involve fighting, sometimes with other ninjas and that may result in injuries. I make sure my teammates stay alive in such situations."

"I didn't know that. Being a ninja sound interesting."

"It is … complicated. I won't say that we get bored, but also can't say interesting. Killing is not pleasant, yet it is a part of our job."

Irabi nodded.

The next day was the day of departure. Daimeo left earlier as he liked to get to places before the time he supposed to. So by the time his daughter left the palace he was already long gone. Irabi preferred to travel by horse, so as soon as she left the palace one of the servants led a beautiful steed toward her and helped her into the saddle. Around 40 samurai were also around, also mounted and ready to protect the daughter of their lord. Irabi looked at the ninjas confused.

"Why aren't you mounted?"

"We prefer to walk." Sakura answered. After the conversation in the evening irabi preferred to talk to Sakura.

"You sure?"

Sakura nodded and looked at Anre. He nodded and jumped into the trees along with Shino. Naruto and Sakura flanked Irabi's horse.

"Where did they go?" Irabi asked.

"They are around, but hidden." Sakura answered again and readjusted her bow.

"Good, time to head out." Naruto yelled and to Irabi's surprise the samurai nodded and formed a defensive perimeter around her.

The trip was fairly uneventful. Little happened, the road looked almost deserted. Irabi looked happy though. She looked around with almost childish happiness in her eyes, as this was indeed her first time out of the palace and even a boring trip was interesting for her. The samurai rode silently, while Sakura and Naruto shared a conversation about the chances of Asuma's team on the upcoming chunin exams at the sand. Irabi listened and realized that whatever those exams were, they were really dangerous. She didn't notice a small bug land near Sakura's ear, while another landed on Naruto.


	51. Chapter 51

Chapter 51

Irabi didn't notice the bugs, but Naruto and Sakura sure did. They immediately tenced and prepared to move. That was when a man with an umbrella and a headband with a slashed symbol jumped out of the forest in front of them. The samurai pulled out their swords and prepared to attack the newcomer.

"Who are you and what do you want?" one of the samurai asked in a threatening voice.

"Oh my, isn't it obvious? I want the one you are guarding. She is worth a lot and I have a client willing to pay." He jumped into the air spinning his umbrella and needles coated in poison began showering down on the samurai.

"Air element: Gust of wind." Naruto jumped towards the needles forming handseals and the needles were blown away b his wind jutsu.

The enemy ninja landed and scowled. "konoha shinobi, again you interfere with my plans." He put two fingers in his mouth and whistled. Another ninja appeared on the branch of the tree.

"Towa! Where are the others?"

"Have no idea Aoi, you ordered us to hide separately." The newcomer shrugged. He didn't notice another person raise from the shadow behind him. Irabi screamed as he got stabbed through his torso by a sword. Anre pulled the sword out with a sickening sound and kicked the body off the tree branch, making it land in a heap not too far from Aoi. A puddle of blood began spreading under him. Just then Shino walked out of the woods dragging two more bodies behind him. One had a kunai in his head.

Aoi took several steps back and pulled out something that looked like a metal tube.

"So, you mamanged to get tid of my comrades, but I am not as weak as them." He said cockily, but his eyes betrayed him, showing panick.

"You have two options. One, give up and tell us who sent you. Two, we take you with us in a barely alive state for interrogation." Anre jumped back.

"I believe you do not understand who you are dealing with." A beam of yellow energy popped out of the metal tube and the Konoha ninjas recognized the infamous raijin.

"Impressed? With this blade I have a power equal to the one of a kage." Aoi laughed.

"No, it only proves that you wield a weapon that belonged to a kage once, nothing more." Shino said appearing next to Aoi, who in shock swung the blade only to see Shino turn to a cloud of insects.

"Such ignorance. You don't even know how to properly use a blade." Anre shook his head and began to slowly advance at Aoi, who took several more steps back. His eyes widened when he saw everyone disappear and the sky turn purple.

"What is going on?" he yelled and felt someone grab his foot. When he looked down he saw a skeletal arm stick out from the ground. Pieces of rotten flesh and clothes were covering it. Aoi swung the raijin again, but to hi surprise the blade went straight through the arm. Slowly it was followed by the rest of the body. At the same time other corpses began raising from the ground.

"This isn't happening!" Aoi began swinging his blade like crazy with no effect, until suddenly everything went black and he collapsed.

"Nice job Sakura." Naruto grinned at his pinkhaired teammate after he saw the effects of her genjutsu. "What did you make his see, he looked freaked out."

"He thought he was attacked by a horde of undead." She said.

"Figures he was so scared."Naruto grinned even wider. The samurai around were sharing worried glances. Everything happened so fast. The young shinobi proved to be not only skilled, but also cold, calculating and merciless. Irabi looked at everything with wide eyes. She couldn't speak nor move due to shock and fear.

"We must hurry. This attack was prepared in advance and we can not be sure there are no other ambushes." Anre said returning to the group. Shino carried Aoi tied up with ninja wire and with a charka suppressing seal on his back.

"Yes, the safety of the princess is our prime concerne." The samurai captain said with a nod.

"Then we should travel to Konoha at maximum speed. The horses won't be good enough." Anre said.

"What do you suggest then?"

"We will get a ride. It won't be as comfortable, but much faster. We can take several of you with us aswell. The others may travel on themselves, without the daimeo's daughter the attackers if there are any will have no interest in you."

"Very well. I and five of my best men will go with you. Others will continiue without us." The captain said and motioned to five of his men to dismount. They grabbed some of Irabi's luggage that was strapped to the horses and lined up next to a now also dismounted captain.

"Errrr, what will we be riding?" she asked.

Anre didn't answer, but instead bit his thumb and raised his sleeve. Irabi turned around when she saw Anre's scarred arm.

"Summoning jutsu!" Anre slammed his palm to the ground and in a second in a puff of smoke appeared a huge dragon.

"Greeting summoner, I honor the contract." The dragon bowed.

"D-d-dragon!" Irabi shrieked. The mighty beast turned to her and looked confused.

"Is there a problem, summoner?"

"No, her highness has never seen a live dragon before, so it is a bit of a shock to her. We need to get her to Konoha as fast a possible as it seems someone is after her."

"I see. Her reaction is understandable. I will be honored to help you summoner and the member of the local nobility." The dragon stretched his wing creating a comfortable way for the princess to get to his back. Irabi still looked scared, but seeing Sakura's reassureing look she nodded and slowly walked to the beast's back, followed by the samurai. Anre and his team simply jumped on it. Shino dropped Aoi down once there without any ceremonies.

"Captain, it is unlikely for your men to be attacked, but just in case. Naruto, you are up."

Naruto nodded and made a cross shaped seal.

"Shadow clone jutsu! Transformation jutsu!" immediately the empty saddles were filled with exsact replicas of the samurai.

"These are my shadow clones. In case there is trouble, they will cover you. They will not last long, but will be enough for you to get away." Naruto explained and the rest of the samurai nodded with gratitude. The dragon then flapped his wings and raised into the air.

With a loud 'thud' the dragon landed on the roof of the hokage tower and again stretched his wing.

„That was some ride." Irabi stated as she walked sown the wing still feeling a bit weak in the legs after flying at amazing speeds. Her hair also looked a bit messy, but in every other way she was fine and even smiling.

„Welcome to Konoha your highness." Sakura said walking behind her. The dragon and Anre shares a few words in which Anre expressed his gratitude. The dragon bowed and dissapeared. After that everyone walked down to the hokage's office. They were immidiately let in by the guards.

„Here, this man attacked daimeo's daughter, take him to Ibiki-san for .... conversation." Shino handed a still tied up Aoi to one of the guards, who nodded and slumped the body over his shoulder. He left as the group along with irabi walked in.

„Your highness, allow me to introduce you to the daughter of the fire daimeo, lady Irabi. Lady Irabi, this is the fifth hokage of the village hidden in the leaf, Tsunade of the sannin." Anre introduces Tsunade to Irabi. Tsunade was rather surprised to see daimeo's daughter here so early.

„Pleased to meet you Irabi-san. Was your trip safe?"

„No, in fact i was attacked, or rather would be attacked if it wasn't for the actions of your shinobi. They handled the attackers and then got me here, to the safety of your village. I compliment your shinobi on a job well done. I will tell my father about their performance." Tsunade smiled with pride, but was concerned, as the attack wasn't supposed to happen.

„I am glad that you are alrigh, Irabi-san. Sakura, Shino and Naruto will lead you and your samurai to the huuga estate where you and your father will be staying. There you will be able to rest after an eventful trip. Anre, you stay for a report."

Irabi made a polite bow that was returned by Tsunade and left after Naruto. Sakura pecked Anre on the cheeck through his mask and left last.

„Report." Tsunade became very serious.

„There isn't much to tell. Shino's bugs that were scanning everything in a kilometer radius around us detected an ambush. I and Shino traveled ahead and took care of most of the attackers. Once Irabi-sama and the others made it to the place the leader attempted to abduct the princess but was stopped and then defeated by Sakura's genjutsu. We took him alive and he should be at the interrogation center right now. We took him alive in order to find out who was behind that ambush. The enemy ninja's name was Aoi and he had this." Anre pulled out raijin and put it before Tsunade.

„Is this what i think it is?"

„Yes, it is."

„Hmmm, good work. I remember the latest update in the bingo books. This Aoi left the hidden rain village not so long ago. After Ibiki is done with him, we will get a good bounty. Good job Anre, your team did well, as usual. Continiue the mission, as you know, for now you will stay at the Huuga estate."

Anre nodded and saluted Tsunade before leaving.


	52. Chapter 52

Chapter 52

Irabi curiously looked around as she and her escorts progressed through the village. It was busy as usual, but the samurai easily made way through. Irabi insisted on Sakura walking next to her, while Naruto and Shino decided to jump from roof to roof. Soon they made it to the gates of the Huuga estate, that was guarded by two branch members as usual. Naruto and Shino jumped down and Naruto walked to the guards, who smiled as he approached.

„Greeting Naruto-san."

„Hi, please open the gates and inform Hiashi-sama that her highness Irabi-sama is here."

The guards shared a surprised look and opened the gates. Once done one of them rushed to the big building down the path. Soon They met Hiashi in his best robes accompanied by several Huuga council member, Neji and Hinata. Naruto winked to Hinata who blushed a bit.

„Welcome to the Huuga estate." Hiashi bowed politely along with others. Irabi returned a bow.

„Your estate is lovely, I think i and my father will like staying here." She suddenly saw several people training in the training grounds. The speed in which members of the Huuga clan moved amazed her along with their style.

„Irabi-sama, if i may ask, why are you early, we didn't expect you till the evening."

„Me and my escorts got attacked, but the ninjas from the village my father hired handled them. Then the leader of the team got me and five of my escorts to Konoha on a dragon." Irabi looked away when she said dragon, she still couldn't believe seeing that creature, yet ride one.

„Ahh, Anre's summons. Never had an opportunity to see one, he doesn't summon dragons without good reason. I am glad that you are safe Irabi-sama, i suppose you would like to go to your room now, everything is prepared."

„Yes, please." Irabi felt that due to all the events she was indeed tired, more mentally then physically.

„Good. Hinata, show Irabi-sama to her room. Neji, lead the samurai to their quaters to settle in." Hiashi ordered and with a bow left along with the council members.

Irabi saw a young lady her age come forward. As all Huugas she had strange pupiless eyes that Irabi found strange, but they all could see she was certain.

„Please, follow me." She said. Neji led the samurai away. Naruto, Sakura and Shino followed Irabi and Hinata.

„Your estate is pretty big." Irabi said. Certanly it wasn't even close to the size of the palace, but still formidable.

„Yes, our whole clan lives here and that is almost a hundred men and women. Almost all are shinobi of different ranks." Hinata answered as they were going through the halls until coming to a large richly decorated room. „I hope you like this room Irabi-sama, your faher will be staying at the room across."

Irabi looked around and nodded. „Yes, i will be fine here."

„I am glad, if you want something just clap your hands and someone will come. Naruto and the others will be in the rooms next to your."

Irabi nodded and then saw some of the Hugga member bring in her luggage.

Several hours later the daimeo himself approached the village with his escort of almost a batallion of samurai. When they approached the village they were greeted by Tsunade herself and several ANBU operatives.

„Greetings." Tsunade bowed, dressed in her hokage robes.

The daimeo dismounted and returned a polite bow, his samurai followed.

„Hope your trip was without complications?" Tsunade asked.

„Yes, boring, but refreshing, as usual. My daughter should arrive in an hour or two."

Tsunade became very serious and her expression didn't escape the daimeo. „Is something wrong?"

„your daughter and her escorts were ambushed shortly after leaving your palace. Do not worry, our shinobi handled the attackers and brought your daughter and some of her escorts here, to Konoha. She is currently at the Huuga clan estate, unharmed."

Daimeo gritted his teeth. „Who dared?"

„We do not know ... yet. The team i assighned to protect your daughter thought in advance and captured the enemy leader alive. He is currently being interrogated by our best specialists."

„I hope for results, Tsunade-sama, things like this should not be left unpunished. I would like to see my daughter now and i would like to see the team that saved Irabi."

„Certanly. My ANBU will lead you to the Huuga estate. I must see to how the interrogations are going."

„Do what you must Hokage-sama." Daimeo then turned to the ANBU and got onto his horse. „Lead on."

„So, any progress Ibiki?" Tsunade entered the interrogation chamber and found not only Ibiki, but Shikamaru there aswell.

„Oh, yes, lots of progress, though it is a bit too easy. The guy cracked in about two hours, pathetic." Ibiki grinned like a maniac that has just had his way with his prey, which was actually true. „Nara-san here has already began analysing the information."

„And?" Tsunade crossed her hands on her chest.

„Troublesome." Shikamaru muttered. „it seems we have problems, lots of it."

„What do you mean?"

„Well, as troublesome as it is, Aoi was hired by Danzou." Shikamaru sighed.

„What?!!! That bastard, when i find out why he ... „

„I think, he wanted to take Irabi-san hostage, to forse the daimeo use his influence on the village to make him hokage. Simple really."

„What?!!!" Tsunade yelled again. „ANBU! Find and arrest Danzou." Suddenly Tsunade's eyes widened. „Wait, if Danzou is behind this then ... „

Shikamaru nodded.

„Damn, to the huuga estate, now!"

She quikly left the building and jumped to the rooftops followed by the ANBU. Soon they all saw something that terrified them. Smoke was rising from the place where Huuga estate was.

Once she got closer she saw the daimeo and his escorts rushing towards the Huuga estate. Both groups made it to the gates at the same time and saw them knocked down and a body of a huuga member on the ground. Tsunade checked on him and found the young man dead.

„What is happening?" daimoe demanded. „And where is my daughter?!"

„Inside. We've been betrayed, this is treason." Tsunade said.

The fighting now went on in the main hall, where Anre's team, Irabi, her escorts and some Huuga members along with Hiashi, Hanabi and Hinata stood ground. They all were constantly attacked by ninjas with mask, similar to those ANBU wore. The only difference was that a single word was written on them, 'ROOT'. Those who were able to fight made a defensive perimeter around Irabi and several Huuga children. The attackers came from all three entrances and were all skilled, chunin to jounin level atleast. Being forced to fight inside neither side couldn't use the most destructive jutsus as this could cause the roof to fall down and the attackers clearly wanted to take daimeo's daughter alive. This gave the Huugas an advantage, but they were overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of attackers.

Naruto was in the middle of the fight. His blade charged with wind chakra caused the enemyes heavy casualties as it cut through their weapons like through butter. The problem was that Naruto had to constantly help others by creating clones, which often took blows for others thus saving lives. Naruto already had a long cut on his chest that was healing rapidly.

Neji fought three oponents and was forcing them back by the speed his strikes came at. One of his opponets finally fell after a direct blow to the heart. Other two threw kunai at him, but Neji used kaiten and thus was left unharmed, while his opponents were thrown away. Once Neji stopped spinning he saw another enemy launch at him with a katana. Neji had no time to react, but was saved by another Huuga member who blocked the katana with a kunai and sent the attacker flying away. This left his open though and the man got three kunai in his chest and fell down. Neji snarrled and killed the next enemy with the rasengan.

The walls were filled with kunai and shuriken and Sakura used that. Popping around the hall using chakra to stick to wall. She was already out of arrows, so she used genjutsu, creating illusionary vines, small swamps, quiksand, anything to slow opponents down. Sometimes she appeared in the middle of the fighting and killed one of the enemyes with chakra scalpel.

Hiashi fough back to back with his older daughter., but eventually they were separated. Hinata threw two of her oppnents away with kaiten and finished the next one with a direct hit to the head that turned the brains into mash potatoes. Her father wasn't so lucky. His opponents proved to be more skilled and only one was thrown away by the kaiten. The second took the hit to the heart and fell back, but the last one slashed with his sword and hit Hiashi across the chest creating a long, but no too deep cut from shoulder to thigh. The Huuga head fell on his back hissing from pain. He saw a blade rising to finish him of, but suddenly someone appeared over hims and delivered a hit to the man's stomack.

„Little bitch!" the man yelled and grabbed the hand of the Hiashi's youngest daughter as she attempted another strike. „Die!" he yelled rising his sword, but them screamed from pain as a demon shuriken flew through the air and cut off his arm and then hitting another attacker in the back as he was about to strike down another Huuga clan member. Hanabi turned her head and saw Anre turn around and block a strike coming at him and then cutting the attackers throat open showering everything around in blood. Hanabi then then heard a low caugh and turned her head noticing her sister finish the still standing armless man with a strike to the heart. „Take care of father." She said and began fighting the still coming foes.

Shino was in the back, sending small clouds of his bugs at attackers. Several were already on the ground completely out of chakra thanks to the bugs and their handy work. The buzzing insects also distracted the attackers, causing them to take even heavier casualties.

Anre fought side by side with two Huuga members. Anre already lost his daggers leaving them in the bodyes of the attackers, who seemed really determined to get to Irabi. Now Anre was fending the enemyes off with his sword. The Huugas didn't allow to flank him and Anre could afford to concentrate on those in front of him. He performed his water spear jutsu, killing three opponents by piercing their chests. He shot small burst of lightning chakta that knocked those on recieving end out cold if not killing them.

Little by little the defenders were pushed back, their thin line threatening to break every second. Suddenly there were some strange motiones in the back lines of the attackers, but nobody payed any attention to that, until the pressure the attackers caused dissapeared and they began to back and then run. Soon it was clear why. From one of the entrances Tsunade appeared along with ANBU. Hoakge's monstrous strenght sent the enemyes through the walls with bodies reduced to a bloody pulp.


	53. Chapter 53

Chapter 53

Anre ducked under the slash and cut both of the attacker's legs off and then finished the screaming man by piercing his heart. He noticed another white mask to his side and slashed there, but his attack was blocked.

„Relax, it's me."

Anre saw the sharingan and recognised the weasel mask. His body immidiately relaxed and he looked around and saw the remaining foes chased out of the hall that was now littered with bodyes.

Tsunade crushed the skull of the last opponent and looked around the hall. Bodyes were everywhere.

„Localise the fires! Pursue the enemyes! Send for medical teams!" Tsunade gave orders. As she was doing that the daimeo entered he room and saw his daughter by the wall with an unreadible expression on her face. By her were the two remaining samurai and their captain. They bowed to their lord, but one of them had a deep wound and almost fell down. He was quikly supported by the captain. Daimeo kneeled before his daughter.

„Irabi? You alright?" the girl didn't answer.

„Irabi!" Daimeo embraced his daughter who finally snapped out of her shock and embraced her father in return and began crying uncontrollably.

„Here, here, all has past, you are safe now." The daimeo made his daughter turn away from the battle scene and now himself looked around. He saw Hinata take care of her father, while Hanabi had his head on her lap. He saw Anre relax after meeting Itachi and slump to his knees, holding his side, which was bleeding along with a cut on his leg. Sakura was fighting for the life of the Huuga member who saved Neji. Shino led the children out of the hall, while Naruto simply leaned back on the wall breathing heavily with his head rolled back. His clothes more resembling rags now. Neji was on his hands and knees breathing heavily and trying to stay awake. Soon medical teams began to enter the hall. Among the medics were Tenten, Ino and Haku.

„Three teams stay here, others spread through the estate and look for wounded Huuga members, children come first." Tsunade turned to Itachi. „Compose a group to localise the fire, or this place will burn down to the ground." Itachi saluted and went to gather people for the group. Tsunade finally stopped giving orders and went to help Sakura, who was now helped by several medics.

The hospital was very busy that day. Medics ran through the hall along with the nurses. Almost all of surgery rooms were accupied. By the morning everything more or less settled. Tsunade accompanyed by several medics was hearing out reports and most of them weren't very good. 22 Huuga members were wounded and were treated at the hospital. 7 other lost their lives. Those who got sorrounded in the main hall weren't in a very good condition as it turned out that many attackers used poisoned weapons. Anre, Hiashi and several other Huuga members got poisoned, but luckily the poison was not complicated and the antidote was availible. Now that the emergency measures were taken it was time to think what to do next, but first there was a meeting with the daimeo.

The meeting was held in one of the offices in the hospital. Along with Tsunade, Hiashi, Itachi and Anre were brought. Hiashi was in a wheelchair, his chest was all wrapped up in bandages and he was filled with painkillers to keep going. Anre didn't look good himself, but managed to stand. He no longer wore his vest or hood, but kept his mask on. When Tsunade motioned him to sit down, he agreed gratefully. Daimeo was sitting in an armchair with two of his samurai behind it.

„I want to hear explanations, Tsunade-sama. Who were those attackers and who is responsible?"

Tsunade sighed and sat down also. „The man responsible is the member of the Konoha council, Danzou and the attackers were his loyal soldiers, the ANBU 'root' division. It was supposed to be disbanded by the law of the now retired third hokage Sarutobi, but it seems he kept them working underground. Danzou was always very ambitional and never tolerated any other point of view then his own. He always believed that the purpose of ninja existence was war, while the third believed ninjas are supposed to protect people. One the third was named hokage Danzou was outraged as he thought that this position belonged to him. He never openly showed his anger, but it seems he never stopped plotting on the way to get power. He became the member of the council to be in touch with the current political situation and build up his influence, get connections. That allowed him to mask his actions and always stay out of the suspects list. I ordered to search his office and many docments compromising his actions were found. He had connections with Orochimaru and had a hand in sand/sound invasion. He had a hand in starting the conflict with the sound. He did anything to start a full scale war."

„But why my daughter?" daimeo asked.

„You as a ruler of the fire country have lots of influence and power. He, I believe, planned to take your daughter hostage and manipulate you. Your power combined with the connections he had here would allow him to get my position. He knew that our daughter would come to Konoha aswell. He had a way to contact a former Konoha shinobi Aoi and persuaded him to leave the hidden rain and become missiong nin to complete the task of kidnapping your daughter. That plan failed as Danzou didn't know about the shinobi escort you ordered. When his first plan failed he decided to put everything on stacke and ordered his 'root' to come out of hiding and launch a full scale attack on the Huuga estate as it was the only way to complete his plan. It was fortunate that Anre's team captured Aoi alive and that he cracked soon in the hands of our interrogators, thus giving our best analitic a chance to put everything together and get to the estate in time to save your daughter and the defenders." Tsunade stopped and sighed again while rubbing her temples.

„Betrayal, the worst sin possible." Daimeo concluted. „Hiashi-sama, i must thank you and your clan for defending my daughter, i grieve for those who died. I and my daughter will be at the funeral ceremonies, i feel it is our duty to honor those who gave their lives for us. Anre-san, i thank you and your team aswell. You all have my greatest gratitude."

Hiashi nodded weakly, while Anre managed a small bow.

„One question remains though, where is Danzou?" daimoe practically spat that name out.

„He went into hiding, but i am certain he never left Konoha, so it is only a matter of time until we find him."

„Tsunade-sama ... „ Hiashi raised his head. „.... when he is captured i ask that a member of the Huuga clan would be allowed to execute him."

„Agreed. Now it only leaves us to figure where to place the Huuga clan for now. I am sorry Hiashi, but your estate was badly damaged and is not suitable for housing a whole clan."

Hiashi lowered his head. A grimace of pain appeared on his face.

„Perhaps i have a solution." Itachi said. „The Uchiha estate has been deserted for several years, but it is more then capable of housing the Huuga clan. Cleaning up will take little time for a whole clan and until the Huuga estate is rebuilt the Huugas are more then welcome to stay there. I give permission to that as the current Uchiha clan leader."

„Thank you Uchiha-san." Hiashi nodded.

„No worry, i think Sasuke will like seeing the estate filled with life for a change. Our clans had differences in the past, but i feel that we should always give a helping hand to fellow Konoha shinobi."

„I thank you again Itachi-san, the Huugas will be in your debt."

„I think I can help aswell." The daimeo stood up. „Rebuilding the estate is expensive, but i am more then willing to pay for that. Consider this an expression of my gratitude Hiashi-sama."

Hiashi nodded again.


	54. Chapter 54

Chapter 54

A week pased since the dreadful events and the attack on the Huuga clan estate. The clan was settling in the Uchiha estate for the time being. They would have to stay there for a while as their own estate was supposed to rebuild almost from the ground. The 'root' members started fires in every room they checked and not found daimeo's daughter in. The process of moving to the Uchiha estate was not the happy one, but everyone were grateful for the opportunity. Anre's, Sasuke's and Neji's team helped with the moving. The jounin sensei's were appointed to the search parties looking for Danzou.

The moving to the Uchiha estate was followed by a funeral ceremony for the Huuga clan memberss. Everyone also honored the samurai that died thet night protecting Irabi. Daimeo and his daughter were among those who traditionally placed a single white flower on the grave each.

The things were more or less settling in. Hiashi was up and walking again, but still was in no shape to train his daughter or anything else that put a physical strain on his body.

In other words things were getting quiet for the time being.

„Hey, Sasuke!" Naruto waved his hand as he saw the Uchiha walking down the street. A minute later they were both walking in the same direction.

„So, how are things?"

„Fine, as much as it is possible. Thanks for letting the clan stay in your estate."

„Forget about it, where are you going, and without Hinata." Sasuke elbowed Naruto and smircked.

„Hinata is busy. She takes care of Hiashi-sama and since she is the clan heir a good amount of clan business is on her shoulders right now. And what have you been up to lately?"

„Not much. Itachi showed me how to properly use the sharingan for genjutsu, so i practiced that. Haku is busy at the hospital due to the recent events. Where are you going by the way?"

„Jutsu performance experimental grounds."

„Where?"

„It is a place where you perfor a jutsu to see if it can be used."

„Jutsu?"

„Yeah. I developed a new jutsu and ... „

„You? Developed a new jutsu?"

„Yeah, you don't need to act so surprised."

„Sorry."

„Well, as i was saying i developed a new jutsu that has a potential to be an S-rank jutsu and any juutsu A-rank or higher must be performed before the commitee to be approved."

„Whoah, i didn't know that."

„Neither did I, but Hiashi informed granny Tsunade before the ... attack, so here i am."

„Listen, can i go too?"

„Have no idea. I have nothing against it, but i don't know if it is allowed."

„Well, there is only one way to find out."

The Jutsu performance experimental grounds was a huge open area sorrounded by a tall metalic fence that had paper seal on it through the perimeter. Inside led a gate next which Naruto and sasuke were met by Tsunade, Jiraiya several ANBU, Shizune and Kakashi.

„Sasuke, what are you doing here?" Tsunade asked after nodding to Naruto.

„I wanted to watch, if it is ok."

„Well, it is not usually allowed, but i see no harm, you may stay."

„Hey ero-sennin, since when are you in the village?"

Jiraiya gave Naruto a bonk on the head. „Don't call me that. And i am here to use my spy network and help locate Danzou."

„Oh."

Tsunade shook her head looking at the two and then turned to Naruto. „You will perform the jutsu in the open area, while we will observe from inside that bunker. Since your jutsu is created for combat you will have a target. In the center there will be a corpse of a cow.... „ Sasuke snorted, but met a glare from everybody and stiffened up. „It is not the best target, but since it is organic we will be able to tell if the jutsu has any special effect. After that you will explain the way that jutsu is performed and we all will sigh the contract claiming that jutsu as your own invention and giving only you the right to pass the knowledge of it to others. Understod?" Naruto nodded ad Tsunade ordered to open the gate.

„Anyone have any ideas what he will do?" Tsunade asked.

„I have some." Kakashi said putting away his book and revealing the sharingan.

„And those are?" Jiraiya asked.

„Lets just watch, it might be interesting." Outside Naruto created a single shadow clone.

„A shadow clone?" Jiraiya rubbed his chin and then his eyes began growing to the size of the plates as Naruto began creating the rasengan, while his clone applied wind nature chakra. The air was filled by the sound of violent wind, the jutsu that was in Naruto's hand made hunks of earth get pulled out of the ground that were immidiately tore in pieces and then reduced to dust by the wind.

„WIND ELEMENT: RASENSHURIKEN!" Naruto yelled and thrust his hand forward hitting his target. The corpse of the poor cow was lifted into the air as the jutsu tore it apart until it turned into a huge sphere of spinning energy. In the middle the corpse looked as it was constantly being hit by an enormous amounts of strikes. The sphere grew in diameter until using up it's energy leaving a several dozen meter wide crater and the corpse of the cow howereing over it that soon fell down to the buttom. Naruto was on the edge of the crater, on one knee, breathing heavily. In the bunker people were trying to get their jaws off the ground.

„He ..... he ...... he completed the rasengan." Jiraiya mumbled.

„Seems so." Kakashi said hiding his sharingan. „The amount of strikes was unreal, even my sharingan couldn't count them all."

„Tell me about it. Against that chidori is like a spark before a forest fire. I'd better start working on something new, or the dobe won't let me hear the last of it."

The people rushed out of the bunker. Tsunade went o check on Naruto, while Shizune and the ANBU went to inspect the effects of the jutsu.

„Hmm, seems your hand suffered some damage, but it is almost gone now."

„Yeah, i heal fast." Naruto grinned.

„Well, one thing is obvious, this jutsu is too dangerous to use for anyone without your healing abilities."

„Ok, i get it."

Just the Shizune came back looking pale.

„Well?" Tsunade asked being impatient. Jiraiya backed her up.

„I have never seen anything like that. The jutsu strikes on the cell level. I don't know how exactly, but all chackra connections to every single cell have been cut. Anyone hit by that jutsu will never be able to use any jutsu, or even mold chakra, provided if by any miracle he will survive."

„But ... that is impossible. Only poison can create such an effect and it takes days."

„I know, but here ...."

„Does all you say mean that my jutsu is good?" Naruto asked making everyone sweatdrop.

„Yes Naruto, it does. I will rank it as S-rank jutsu."

„Cool, am i great or what?" Naruto grinned.

„Yeah, yeah, now how is it done?" Jiraiya asked.

„Well, the rasengan is basically chakra form manipulation taken to a high level. I added chakra nature manipulation. Since it takes too much concentration a use a clone to apply wind chackra."

„Simple, yet we have all seen the results." Jiraiya concluded.

„Kakashi-sensei?"

„Huh? Sasuke? You don't need to call me sensei anymore, i am not your teacher afterall."

„Sorry, an old habit. I was wondering if ...."

„If i would help you create your own original jutsu."

Sasuke nodded.

„Sorry, but no. I created the chidori and that is it, i don't know where to start, and don't want to honesty, my brain is already filled with jutsu. But, perhaps your brother could help you."

„No, he is busy as an ANBU captain. He could give me pointers, but that is it."

„Well, pointers is i suppose all Naruto got when he worked on his jutsu. Perhaps ask him?"

„NO WAY. If i ask the dobe for help he will throw it in my face everytime we meet."

„Well, i do not think Naruto is that low."

„Well, i do not want to find out." Sasuke crossed his arms on his chest.

„Fine, think of someome else who created an original jutsu."

„Like who?"

„Figure it out."

Sasuke rang the bell at Anre's door. A minute later it was opened by Sakura, who looked rather tired and grumpy.

„Yes? Oh, hi Sasuke, nice of you to come for a visit, but I am really busy."

„With what?"

Sakura showed Sasuke a scroll in her hand that was filled with strange symbols.

„Anre began teaching me on those chakra molding symbols. These are the basic. It takes 12 to 25 of these to form one seal nad there are over 150 of these things. Combining them is another story." Sakura said rolling up the scroll.

„Nice .... anyway, where is Anre?"

„The lake near training ground 3. He said he wanted to practice chakra nature manipulation."

„Thanks, bye." Sasuke ran off, while Sakura shrugged and closed the door.


	55. Chapter 55

Chapter 55

Sasuke indeed found Anre at the lake. He saw chakra moving around him that soon began resembling water until Anre sent it at the nearby rock, cutting it in half.

„hello, Sasuke, what can i do for you?" Anre turned around.

„Well, i am thinking of developing my own personal jutsu, a signature move."

„Isn't chidori your signature move?"

„No, it was created by Kakashi-sensei"

„Well, did you master the mangekyo sharingan, i mean the one Kakashi used when you fought Obito-san."

„How do you know about that, we didn't tell, oh, Sakura must've told you."

„No, she respected the fact you didn't tell, but i am more than capable of reading the report you and Kakashi wrote."

„Figures. Well, i am working on that thing, it takes time to fully develop, i can not controll the process fully. Besides I want to make something original."

„Well, good luck on that. I don't know how can i help."

„Do you have your own original jutsu?"

„Yes, my shocking fist tecknique, why?"

„How did you come up with it?"

„Hmm, it is hard to say. It is just that one day i got an idea and tried to make that idea into reality. I guess there are two ways to create an original jutsu. Improving an already existing one, or creating a totally knew concept. Both have a certain amount of complicity."

„So, one of the variants i have is for instance improving chidori."

„Yep. Naruto did perfect the rasengan and since you two always had sort of a friendly rivalry it is only logical.""

„Hmm, i don't think there is anything to improve. I mean it already uses both chakra shape and nature manipulation ... „

„Shape?" Anre asked.

„yes, i gather chakra in my palm like so.... „ Sasuke did the first stage of the chidori and saw Anre try the same.

„And then turn chakra to resemble lightning." He finished and to his shock saw a perfect chidori in Anre's hand.

„So? This is it?" Anre asked with a dissapointment in his voice.

„How did you do that? It took me 3 weeks."

„You had to learn chakra nature manipulation, i already knew that. And about form manipulation, this one is so basic. All it does is allow you to hold the jutsu, that is it. You see this kind of form manipulation does not add power to the jutsu, thus chidori does not have a chakra shape manipulation aspect adding to it's power."

Sasuke blinked at that, but then nodded. „Can you demonstrate or something?"

„Ok" Anre shrugged and stretched his arm, his palm in a tight fist. „Observe."

Sasuke saw chakra swirl around a fist slowly changing shape until becoming thousands of rapidly moving blades. Then the nature of chakra began changing as it began to resemble water. At that point Sasuke felt the energy of the jutsu. That followed by Anre adding lightning natured chakra, making each water blade have and electrical pulse. Finally he activated the jutsu to the fullest causing the lightning violently stirr around the fist. The power of the jutsu pushed the water in the lake back, while Sasuke shielded his eyes with his hand a used chakra to stick to the ground. Finally Anre let the jutsu fade slowly.

„Impressive." Sasuke said.

„Thanks."

„I wouldn't want to be on the recieving end of that thing."

„Heh, yeah, i guess. Besides i wouldn't want to create a canyon here."

Sasuke managed a laugh after swallowing a lump in his throat.

„So, any ideas on what i can do with the chidori?"

„Who is trying to develop a new jutsu here, you or me? I can only tell you one thing. If you want your new jutsu to do more damage, the shape manipulation part should do something without nature part."

„Ok, then i'll do it."

„Good luck." Anre turned around and continiued his training.

Sasuke sat near a training post and kept struggeling to think of a way to improve chidori.

„_Form manipulation .... a way to harm with raw chakra ..._ „

Sasuke stood up and tried creating a simple form out of chakra, but that proved quite difficult. Indeed his skills at chakra shape manipulation have fallen behind.

„Then, it is time to train in chakra shape manipulation and achive my goal." Sasuke whispered and went to the library. Being a chunin helped as he now could acsess the sections with advanced scrolls with the needed exercises.

„So, did Hokage pass your jutsu?"

„Yes, Hiashi-sama, she gave me a certificate." Naruto showed Hiashi a slip of paper.

„Good .... S-rank? Hmmm kinjutsu .... why is that?" Hiashi looked through the paper.

„When i strike it damages me aswell. My healing abilities nullify the damage, but anyone without them might suffer high levels of damage."

„What kind damage exactly?"

„His chackra system will be damaged. Tsunade-sama explained that my jutsu not only causes serious damage to the body itself, but also cuts the chakra pathways off the body cells."

„Impressive and ... terrifying. Naruto i want you to write down everything on your new jutsu for our clan library."

„As you wish, but it will still marcked a kinjutsu."

„I know, i doo not intend letting anyone without your healing abilities learn it, but it must be documented for future generations."

„I'll start as soon as i can."

„good, today you made the Huuga clan proud Naruto. Perhaps you indeed will be hokage someday."

Naruto grinned at that.

„But not any day soon." Hiashi smircked and passed Naruto who sighed and went to work on his first scroll to describe his first original jutsu.

Hiashi smircked again. „Hanabi!" he called to get attention from his younger daughter who was training.

„Yes father?"

„You performed well during the recent events, and i think it is time for you to move on. Your juuken is good, but i want you to keep training. But today, you will also start learning the jutsu that was brough into our clan by Naruto and which your sister and cousin have master achiving amazing results."

Hanabi's eyes widened. „You mean ... „

„Yes, starting today you will begin learning the rasengan."

„Thank you father, where do i begin?" Hiashi could see that his youngest child could control herself, but yet he could see she was anxious to start.

„fine, lets go get the need material, on the way i will explain. There are three basic stepps, each teaching you a part necessary to perform the rasengan. The jutsu needs both great control, abilily for chakra form manipulation and most importantly power. You will learn all and learn to combine them." Hiashi talked, while Hanabi payed attention afraid to miss anything.

In the mean time lots of ninjas including several squads of ANBU were looking through the village, looking for Danzou. Finding him proved difficult as Konoha as any ninja village held many secrets, and for one as influencial as Danzou that meant a way to hide insede of a heavily populated settlement. Kakashi and Asuma were checking the poorest and thus the most heavily populated part of Konoha for any trace of Danzou. Several places nobody have ever heard of have been founded and they proved to be small bases of the 'Root' division scattered around the village. Several 'Root' members were caught, but the main goal of the search still proved to be elusive. Now the two jounins were checking a lead supplied by one of Kakashi's dog summons.

„We are here." Kakashi said as he and Asuma observed a seemingly normal storage facility used by traders.

„Anything inside?" Asuma asked.

„Kakashi shook his head, lowering his forehead protector, since his sharingan didn't pick any chakra activity inside. „Still, we must check. Hiding chakra signatures is quite possible."

Asuma nodded and they both hopped over to the roof of the building they were observing. There was a hatch on the roof they used to get inside. There was no need to attract attention until anythingwould be confirmed. Inside the building was filled with containers that held different merchandise. The two slowly walked around, until Asuma noticed something.

„Kakashi, look here." Asuma pointed at one of the containers.

„What about it?" the container looked no different then the others, old and dusty, same as the rest of the place.

„The doors are covered with dust, yet there are marks on the floor like it was recently opened. The layer of dust is not as thick." Kakashi noticed now aswell and looked around the container. He uncovered his sharingan and picked a faint trace of chakra coming from the corner. He saw a small seal drawn near the ground.

„genjutsu supportive seal." He concluded. „Lets send for reinforcement, we might have something here."

Half an hour later a squad of ANBU came, led by Itachi. They opened the container doors and saw stairs going down inside. The container proved nothing more than a clever camoflouge. The ninjas slowly went down looking for traps. Finally the made it down and saw a reinforced door. Itachi nodded to one of his men and a minute later the door was blown open by an explosive tag. Using the smoke and dust as cover they stormed the room which turned out to be a very well built bunker. Inside were two members of the 'Root' and Danzou himself.

„Danzou, by the order of the hokage you are under arrest for treason." Kakashi said. The old man sighed and nodded. He waived his hand and the two 'Root' members dropped their weapons, letting ANBU tie them up.

„Took you long enough to find me." Danzou said as he let Asuma tie him up and place a chakra supression seal on him.

„The result is important."

„indeed. I didn't get the result i wanted. Tell your father ... he won."

„You know, he asked me to tell you if i found you, that he never fought with you in the first place." Asuma answered making sure the knot was tight enough.


	56. Chapter 56

Author note: Ok, it is not like me to ask for reviews. The ting is that in two days I got 36 messages of people adding the fic to their favorite list, but not a single review, it is already getting rediciolus.

Chapter 56. Danzou's punishment.

Chained Danzou stood before the council he once sat in, facing trial. He looked around and found nobody who had anything but anger nad sadness in their eyes. He expected none, that was the price of treason.

Tsunade stood before him, wearing formal hokage attire. In the hall were also present several more people, including Anre's team and the members of the Huuga clan. Most of them served as witnesses.

„How do you plead?" Tsunade asked.

„Guilty." Danzou answered looking Tsunade straight in the eyes.

„Then, by the power i was granted as the hokage, I hearby sentence you to death. You may have your last word."

„Last word? Heh. I only did what i thought best. I have no remorse for my actions. You, who preach peace are fools. The shinobi are tools of war, and in war we must live. Without it our lives loose their meaning."

„You forget, that shinobi were originally created to protect." Hiashi spoke up from his place.

„Protect? Why, should those superiour protect those that are not worthy of it."

„Because that is the reason of our existance." A voice came from the side. Danzou turned his head and saw Naruto.

„You? What do you know?"

„I know, that the desire to protect makes more powerful and gives you the ability to overcome any obstacle"

Danzou only scowled.

„He is right. The path of destruction is easier. It takes years for a tree to grow, but it takes only minutes to chop it down. But if you let it bloom, it will reward, and will in return give life aswell." Tsunade said. Silence raised in the room after those words until Tsunade spoke up again.

„Huuga Hiashi, since your clan suffered the most due to the action of this man, a member of your clan will be given a right to execute him. Who will it be?"

Hiashi nodded and looked to the side. Out of the line of people Hinata stepped forward.

„I will, Tsunade-sama, as a heiress of the Huuga clan."

„Hah! I highly doubt you will be able to kill me girl, you were always weak and too shy and kind to be a ninja and ... „ Danzou's words stopped in his throat as Hinata looked at him. She looked not as a shy timid girl, but as a true hair to the clan. Her eyes were cold and the scared the old trator.

„I will not kill you. People are killed in combat. No, i will execute you. You will not die as the shinobi, but as a man without honor." Hinata came closer.

„Danzou, your punishment is death. The verdict is to be carried out immidiately." Tsunade declared. Danzou took a step back as Hinata came closer.

„Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. You are to die. Stand and face your death if you have any honor left in you." Hinata said coming even closer.

„You wouldn't dare."

Danzou gasped, as Hinata's palm hit his chest. His only eye rolled up and the man well backward, dead.

„Yes, i wouldn't dare .... to miss." Hinata lowered her hand and returned to the line, where she felt a warm cpmforting hand around her shoulders.

„It had to be done." Naruto whispered.

The next day Tsunade entered the prison, followed by a squad of ANBU. The warden, who was an elder shinobi greeted her with a polite bow.

„How can i help you hokage-sama?"

„Gather all the recent prisoners from the 'Root' division in the mess hall.

„Yes, Hokage-sama."

It didn't take long for the order to be carried out. Soon the mess hall was filled with over fourty chained shinobi, who looked at Tsunade with blank faces.

„Who are you?" Tsunade asked. She was met with silence until one of the 'root' members in fron raised his head.

„We are tools. We do not carry names. We are loyal to Danzou-sama."

„Danzou is no more."

„Then we have no reason to exist. What good are we now, that we have failed."

„You do realise he sent you all on a suicidal mission?"

„We are tools, we do not ask question. We do what we are told."

„So, what will you do now?"

„We do not know."

„Well, then how about this. I will make you official shinobi of Konoha. I will give you cause to live and fight for."

The 'Root' members all raised their heads.

„You have comitted a crime against Konoha, but i can admire your loyalty and skills. Join Konoha, be as loyal to the village as you were to Danzou and you will pay off your debt ..... in time."

The 'Root' members all shared a look and nodded to each other. The next second all of them lowered down to one knee. „We swear our loyalty to the village of Konoha." They said in unison.

„Good. I will inlist you all, you will also be given names nad places to live. But, you will be carefully monitored, so hear my word and hear it well. If you betray my trust you will be hunted down and killed. But if you prove your loyalty, you will be the respected members of out society."

„We swore, we do not betray our oaths, that you know ..... hokage-sama."

„Tsunade-sama, are you sure about this?" Shizune handed her mistress and heap of papers to inlist the 'root' members as Konoha shinobi.

„Quite sure."

„But they ... „

„they have shown that they can be loyal. They are quite skilled and it would be a shame to loose such a number of capable ninjas. But don't think i am so dumb to trust them blindly. I will mix them with other teams, make them work with our older and trustworthy shinobi. That way i will kill two birds with one stone. Our shinobi will give me regular reports and i will be able to keep an eye on them. And while doing that they will help the former 'root' members become more social, they have a problem with that."

„Ok, you are the hokage." Shizune sighed, but silently admitted that it was a well thought through plan.

„Now, there is only one matter left. What do we do with this?" Tsunade pulled out the raijin.

„Oh, i completely forgot about it with all the commotion."

„So did I, but a weapon should not be held in a box, it has to face battle. Now, who to gice it to. Hmm, the weapon is good for those with a lightning affinity."

„Anre?"

„Nah, he already has the 'grass cutter' and makes good use of it. Jeez, he is already armed to the teeth."

„Then maybe Kakashi?"

„Hmm, that is an idea, but Kakashi doesn't like swords, he is more of a bare hand fighter. I was thinking about maybe Sasuke."

„The Uchiha? Are you sure?"

„No, but this is the best choice i have. He is a very promising ninja. And Uchiha always had a good tradition of sword fighting. I'd give it to Itachi, but he has his father's sword, and Obito in his report said that he loathes using long bladed weapons, so Sasuke could be a good option. Ok, leave me for now, i need to think."

Shizune bowed and left the office leaving a silent Tsunade. Once she left the female sannins smircked and opened her drawer.

„Now where was that bottle of sake ..... huh?"

Instead of a bottle Tsunade pulled out a slip of paper.

„Confiscated. Told you not to drink during work. Best wishes, Shizune."

Tsunade banged her head on the table. „Why me?!"

„Sora, do not simply use wind natured chakra. Use it in conformity with the shape of the kunai, sort of sharpening it. This way you will not use as much."

Sora nodded, as he was throwind wind chakra charged kunai at a tree. He was progressing quikly, much to asuma's pleasure. The boy turned out to be wind based fighter, same as he was. In the distance Tenten was sparring with Kankoruo using puppets. The fact that she was good at throwing weapons herself she was on par, as Kankoruo was way better with the puppets than she was. Chouji was practising taijutsu on two boulders, pummeling them into the ground using his family jutsu to expand his arms. The team progressed very well. Asuma was glad that Kankoruo didn't leave the team when he became chunin. He helped the others train, and sharpened his skills aswell. Soon, in a week, his team will travel to the sand, to partcipate in the chunin exams.


	57. Chapter 57

Chapter 57 To the cloud

Tsunade recieved good reports from the chunin exams in the sand. Asuma's team made it to the finals, and performed very well. Konoha's funds were rising, the relatinos with other nations were good. They finally sold the captured Akatsuki member Deidara to the hidden rock village for a handsome bounty. Tsunade didn't care, but it seemed as he commited some crimes in that village, as they were really pissed on him and were willing to pay any amount of money. The daimeo also raised the funding and with the 'root' members now working for Konoha, the village was at it's peak of power. Yep, the things were going pretty smoothly.

„Tsunade-sama." Shizune entered the office.

„What is it?" Tsunade noticed a worried expression on her assistants face.

„We have just recieved a warning from the hidden rock. Deidara escaped from their prison."

„WHAT!!! Those worthless idiots. We handed him to them on a silver platter. How did it happen?"

„They forgot to put chakra supression seals on him and gave him food in a plate made of clay."

Tsunade rubbed her face and slowly counted back from ten. Finally calming down she raised her head.

„What does the hidden rock want?"

„Nothing, they just sent the word."

„Fine, it is useless to ponder over it now. So, from the information Itachi gave us, there are still four active Akatsuki members including Deidara. Not to mention Itachi suspicion of someone having power to influence Akatsuki from the shadows." Tsunade stood up. „Send warning to the hidden cloud. We know, that if they fail, they target the next jinchuuriki in he list, in order to let the things around the failed abduction target settle down. They are careful, but their moves can be predicted. The hidden cloud has two jinchuuriki, so they might target one of theirs."

„Tsunade-sama, i understand, but our relations with the hidden cloud are rather complicated."

„I know, but Akatsuki are a threat to all hidden villages. We need to warn them. Send them info on possible attackers. In time of need even former foes unite to oppose a common enemy."

Shizune nodded and left. There was work to do.

„Raikage-sama, an urgent message for you." Raikage raised his head from the bane of all kages, paperwork.

„Message? Who sent it it?"

„Hokage did, it is a message from Konoha."

„Heh, well i guess it won't hurt to read it. I wonder what she wants." Raikage took the scroll from his assistant and unrolled it. While he read the expression on his face changed, from amused to concerned. When he finished he tossed the scroll on his desk and crossed his arms on his chest, thinking the new information over.

„Fine. Get Yugito and my brother in here, pronto."

Same time in a distant unknown location the remaining members of the akatsuki were having a meeting. Deidara was among them, though he looked a bit battered.

„So, we are down to four." The one in the middle concluded.

„Yes, leader-sama. Itachi's betrayal cost us several members. Not to mention the losses from before."

„Hmmm, the things are not going as smothly as I planned, but some complications were inevitable. We have five containers drained of their bijuu chackra. That leaves four. The two in the cloud and the two in Konoha. Suggestions?"

Zetsu stepped forward. Most of his figure was shadowed, but his eyes glowed a faint yellow glow, adding to his mysterious and creepy figure. „Konoha is on it's heels right now. That and two members of our organisation are now with them. A direct attack on them would be complicated. Even if we attack from ambush, we might fail and now, failure is unacceptable. The cloud on the other hand is weaker now due to their defeat in the conflict with Konoha. They didn't loose that much shinobi, but their spirits are crushed. They right now are the most vulrenuble target."

„But due to their defeat they will be causious and most likely will keep the jinchuuriki inside the village, to keep other nations from attacking." Leader said.

„Yes, but when did that stop us?"

„so, attack the whole village, is that what you suggest Zetsu?"

„Yes, that is what i suggest, but we can not attack all together."

„True, I need you to keep your agents working and giving us information Zetsu, as for you Deidara, it is good you escaped and returned, but in your current worn out state you are no good."

„Do not insult my art and ... „

„that is final Deidara." Leader's eyes suddenly turned colour and rings appeared in it, revealing the infamous rinnegan. „Do not question me."

„Yes, Leader-sama."

„Good. Konan, we are going. The leader walked pass his subordinates and out of shadows he was followed by five more men, all wearing akatsuki cloacks and all having rinnegan in their eyes.

„We are going to Kumo and we will cause ..... pain."

„Sir, akatsuki members sighted just outside the village." Raikage's assistant burst into the office.

„So Tsunade was right afterall. It begins. Fine, we will show, that our village is capable of defending itself. Send everyone to the outer defence perimeter. We will show them how the cloud nins can fight.

„Tsunade-sama, Jiraiya sent a word that the cloud is under attack."

„Them?" Shizune nodded.

„An enemy of our enemy is our friend. The cloud doesn't know what are they dealing with. We need to send help."

„Tsunade-sama, at the very best rate it took several hours for Jiraiya's message to arrive and ... „

„I don't care. If the cloud lost, then we must help them get their jinchuuriki back, if the managed to fend the akatsuki off then it will be a good way to show our good will and repair our relations with the cloud. Besides, they are attacking the whole village. No matter how powerful members of the akatsuki are, it will take some time to beat them."

„Who shall we send?"

„Send Anre's team. Sakura is a good medic, she will be needed at the cloud. And send Neji's team as support, and Ino with temari will be able to help Sakura."

„Why not Sasuke's team?"

„Gaara is one of the targets, Shizune But i think Sasuke should go also, they could use man power on this one." Tsunade answered simply. „Get them in here, now! And send word to Itachi that i want him to assemble a team of ANBU and bring Asuma and his team back from sand as soon as possible. The finals are today anyhow. Go!"

Anre and his team, backed up by Neji's team and Sasuke prepared to leave. They were given a quik briefing and now were to get to the hidden cloud as soon as they could. The village was four days away and in the mountains, but there was a quiker way to get there.

„Summoning jutsu!"

„Summoner, I honor the contract."

„Good to see you too Voranan, i guess you already met people around here."

„Greeting friends of the summoner."

„Voranan, we need to get to the hidden cloud village, it is very important."

„I see that this matter really concerns you summoner. I will gladly aid you and your friends."

After everyone got on Voranan's back the dragon stretched his wings and raised into the air with a mighty roar.


	58. Chapter 58

Author note: I started working on the sequel. Those who want a sample as a preview can send me a private message as I will not begin posting it until I get a bit further with the story.

Chapter 58 Final battle part 1

Even from far away you could see that the hidden cloud was burning. As the dragon flew closer you could see and soon even hear explosions. Voranan lowered and began flying not far from the ground. Flying over the gates the group saw that the massive iron doors were torn off and now were on the ground, both side of the main street. Falling down they crushed several buildings. There were bodies on the ground here and there.

„Sakura, Ino, Temari, get down and help the wounded, but conserve your chakra. Shino, you go with them and help search for the wounded. Go, that is an order. And help those who need it, those who will survive until later can wait."

„But ... you all might need out help." Ino started, but Anre turned around and glared at her.

„This is war Ino, follow my order, or else i will force you to. This is no time to argue. Move it!"

„Lets go." Sakura said and jumped off the dragon to a roof of a nearby nearly destroyed building. She was joined by Shino, Ino and Temari.

„Sakura, how can you juts leave. Aren't you worried."

„I am worried Ino, but out here i am not Haruno Sakura, but a ninja of the leaf, and my duty is to carry out the orders of the officer in command. If i can push my feeling aside and do what i must, you should also. Now lets go, Temari, south, Ino east, I'll take west. Come back to this spot in an hour. Shino, use your bugs to scout the area. Move!"

„Fools. You all are just mortal, struggeling to avoid the inevitable."

Raikage was down on his back in a barely conscious state. Yugito and KillerBee were beside him, still standing, but their demonic powers were fading. The demons sealed inside of them worcked to repair the damage to the bodies of their hosts, caused by both their enemy and the overuse of their poisonous to a human chakra.

Pein looked around. They were in the middle of the central square. The village behind them was burning, the spirit of it's defenders shattered. Few still had any will to fight.

„Your village now has felt a smalles fraction of my pain. But your punishment is yet to come, as you will face the wrath of god. Now, I need to take something that two of you here posses."

Pein and his remaining bodies stepped forward. One of them lay in a heap of bloody meat and shreds of Akatsuki cloak not too far away. They kept waliking forward, but stopped as from the sky several figures dropped between them and their goal.

„Konoha shinobi." Pein stated.

„Go away Akatsuki, the warning will be given once and will not be repeated." Anre pulled out his daggers.

„You do not understand. Whatever ideals, dreams you are fighting for, it is futile."

„So be it."

The ten ninjas charged at each other and split into five independent duels.

„Summoning jutsu!" one of Pein's bodyes declared and out of the smoke a giant Rhino charged at Sasuke.

„Summoning jutsu!" and the Rhino was tackled down by a huge sabertooth panther, but out the smoke a huge dog charged at Sasuke's summon.

„Chidori Nagashi!" out of Sasuke's palm a long thin blade of chakra stretched and beheaded the summon.

„Heh, you ain't half bad Uchiha." The panther said. „Hop on, we have work to do!"

Riding the panther Sasuke charged at the Akatsuki member, who was riding a huge bull this time and didn't seems saddened or shocked as two of his summons got slain.

With a roar the panther raised his front paws just before the clash and rammed the bulls head into the ground, and then leaped away. The momentum caused the bull to roll over his head and crash into the remains of some building.

Suddenly out of the smoke a flock of bats were sent at Sasuke.

„Fire element: Grand fireball no jutsu."

The firaball burned the bats, but through the smoke a piece of a broken wall was sent at Sasuke, but was stopped when the panther raised it's paw. Finally the smoke cleared and Sasuke saw his opponent on top of a huge bear this time.

„Damn, how many summons does this guy have?!"

The two giant beasts clashed and the sheer weight of the bear made the panther go defencive.

„Chidori Nagashi!" Sasuke tried again, but this time Pein's body jumped straight at the jutsu and then used a substitution with the remains of a huge column. Sasuke's jutsu destroyed the column, but didn't go further.

„Mass summoning jutsu!"

Sasuke looked up and saw several dozen giant dogs drop down onto the back of his panther. They were all atleast the same size as him. The panther was busy struggleing with the summoned bear for dominance. With a roar the dogs charged and the first got a kunai under it's chin. The body went rolling forward and falling off the panther's back.

„Fire element: mystical flame flower!" Sasuke spat several small fireballs at the dogs and some of them went flying down to the ground with burning bodies. Out of the smoke three more beasts charged.

„Dual chidori!" Sasuke sidestepped the first dog and thrust his left hand piercing the chest of the second. With a discusting sound he ripped his hand free and spun around driving the second chidori through the scull of the third summon.

„Gaaahhh" Sasuke went rolling as the first dog attacked from behind. It's clawed paw hit Sasuke's face, leaving three long deep cuts, barely misssing his eye. The remaining dogs tried to pile on top of him, but Sasuke charged chakra to his hands and feet, jumpin into the air. The dogs clashed under him. Sasuke pulled out a scroll. In a puff of smoke several hundred shuriken appeared and rained down on the dogs. All had metal ninja wire attacked to them.

„Lightning surge!" Sasuke sent electrical chakra through the wire, shocking all the dogs, as each had several shuriken on his back. Just then Sasuke saw an eagle appear just above him, being summoned by the akatsuki member.

„Damn, we won't be able to keep this up!" Sasuke knew that summoning and using his new version of the chidori cost him alot, not to mention using standard chidori several times and using other jutsus.

„Fine, I'll use it."

The panther leaped aside as the eagle attempted to grab it.

„Mangekyo Sharingan!" the shape of Sasuke's eyes changed.

„Do not be a fool. My rinnegan will not let you capture me in your tsukomi, nor will you be able to use amaterasu on me."

„Who said anything about that." Sasuke's mouth curved into a smile. The left side of his face was covered in blood, but you still could easly make out his blazing red eyes, that radiated power of the mangekyo sharingan.

Pein's body raised an eyebrow. „I know the powers of the ultimate sharingan."

„Not this one." Sasuke's eyes began spinning.

Pein's body noticed something on his chest. He looked down and screamed in pain. The next second most of his chest was sucked away into another dimension. That followed by the dissapearence of the summons.

„Heh, that will teach you not to face Uchihas." Sasuke dropped to his knee rubbing his eyes. He still had problems with this form of the sharingan, but atleast it worked.

Kiba's opponent was a big, muscely man. He wore a confident smirk and his rinnegan eyes were freaking Akamaru out even though he was no longer a pup, but an almost fully grown nin dog, reaching to Kiba's lower chest.

„Calm down Akamaru, lets show him, what we can do. Human beast clone!"

„Woof!" Akamaru turned into Kiba's replica. The two charged at the Akatsuki member, who sidestepped Akamaru's punch and the blocked Kiba's.

„Take that!" Kiba tried to kick his opponents head, but missed as Pein's body ducked and then kicked the advancing Akamaru away, canceling the human beast clone transformation. Second later Kiba flew through the air landing in a heap over Akamaru.

„Damn, Fang over fang!"

Akatsuki member stopped and looked as two tornados launched themselves at him.

„Earth element: Earth barrier no jutsu!"

The two spinning tornados with a loud 'BOOM' crashed through and went on spinning straight at their target. Pein's body pulled his hands back and suddenly they were encased in stone. He dodged the first tornado which was Kiba and then punched the second. The force of strikes created a cloud of dust, out of which Akamaru flew out and crashed through the wall of a building on the other side of the street.

„Akamaru! You'll pay for that!" kiba flipped back as his opponent attacked and punched the ground where he was just standing, leaving a crater in the ground.

„Fang over fang!" Kiba began spinning and attacked his opponent who jumped aside. Suddenly he felt the ground shake.

„Huh?" Pein's body looked down. To his surprise another spinning tornade burst from the ground and hit him straight into the chest. While in air the akatsuki member got hit this time by Kiba. His attack caused his opponent to crash into the ground.

„Good work Akamaru. I wouldn't have though to drill under the ground."

„Woof." Akamru barked and licked the wound on his shoulder he got when crashed through the wall.

„Earth element: Earth bomb no jutsu."

Out of the cloud of dust a hunk of compressed earth appeared and over the head of both Kiba and Akamaru exploded into the rain of rasor sharp shards.

„Akamaru!" Kiba got a shard in his shoulder. Akamaru got one in his back and another in his leg, breaking the bone. Akatsuki member stepped out of the cloud dust. His cloak was ripped, but overall he seemed fine. In a swift serie of strikes he fist sent both Kiba and Akamaru into the air and then pulled his his hands back to land a finishing blow.

„Two headed wolf!"

Kiba and Akamaru dissapeared in a puff of smoke, out of which a giant two headed beast dropped on Pein's body pinning him to the ground. The next second the giant jaws snapped and spit out ... mud. The pinned out body turned out to be a mud clone. The real opponent raised from the ground.

„Earth element. Rock slicer no jutsu!"

A blade of stone raised from the ground and sliced the giant two headed dog in half. In a puff of smoke it's two halves turned into Kiba and Akamaru. The next second they both were thrown into another building. Crashing through the wall they eneded up in a trashed room.

„Your death will come from the hand of god." Pein's body said as he climbed through the hole Kiba and akamaru made. He saw a barely conscious Kiba and already knocked out Akamaru over him.

„Aghhh." Kiba threw a boulder at Pein's body in a futile attempt to stop him.

„Weak." The Akatsuki member raised his hand to stop the crude projectile when suddenly it puffed into smoke revealing a blooded Akamaru, who pushed the hand away with his paw and sank his teeth into the opponent's throat. With a discusting sound the mighty jaws came together, beheadind one of Pein's bodyes.

„Good work boy." Kiba muttered as the Akamaru on his chest turned into peace of broken furniture.

„Woof." Akamaru barked weakly and slumped down.

„Inuzukas are the best! And don't you forget that!" Kiba smirked and lost consciousness.

„A huuga in the cloud village, amusing, ironic, yet somehow expected."

Neji got as an opponent a long haired, feminine looking man.

„Byakugan." Neji observed his opponent. „_So, those things in his body are like chakra transmittors and recievers. He is being controlled by them like a puppet of sorts_."

„Your eyes see alot i trust ...." Pein's body dissapeared in a blurr." .... but not everything." He reappeared behind Neji. With a swift kick the young Huuga was sent face down in the dusty street. Another blurr and his opponent appeared above him dropping attempting to deliver an even more power blow.

„Kaiten!" Neji pushed off the ground and began spinning. His oppenent back flipped and landed on his feet. Neji charged, he performed a combination after a combination of strikes, but his opponent blocked, dodged and even when the strikes connected didn't show any pain.

„_He is like Lee, but juuken does not have any effect_." Neji frowned noticing his opponent to be a taijutsu expert.

„My chakra ... comes from God." Pein's body said and ducked another juuken strike. Neji gasped as a fist connected with his stomack and then a foot with his chin sending the huuga spinning in mid air.

„_It doesn't work. Even when i hit tenketsus, the chakra flow doesn't stop. How? Wait ... chakra comes from God. Chakra recievers ... ofcource!"_

Neji whiped the blood away and stood up.

„Resistance is admireable, but useless." This time Pein's body charged and launched a kick to Neji's head. The young man sidestepped and leaned closer to his opponent.

„You are in range of my divination." Neji charged as much chakra as he could to his palms. The rasengan training payed off and now his hands were glowing with chakra.

„Two strikes." The smirk on the face of Pein's body dissapeared as Neji hit not the tenketsu, but the chakra reciever. The force of the strikes sent the metal implants rip through his body and come out the other end leaving holes in the chest.

„Four strikes! Eight strikes! Sixteen strikes! Thirty two strikes! Sixty four strikes! Rasengan!"

As in slow motion the rasengan came closer to the shocked face. The body of the Akatsuki member looked as if it was just impailed by hundreds of spikes, all inner organs were detroyed. The remaining chakra recivers barely made the body stand and rinnegan active.

„Splat!" The rasengan made the head explode and the body drop on it's back. That followed by Neji slumping to his knees. His hands were shaking from using so much chakra and his byakugan faded.

„The pride of huuga has prevailed."!


	59. Chapter 59

Chapter 59 Final battle part 2

Naruto's opponent only shook his head, before charging at the blonde. Naruto charged aswell, pulling out his knuckle blade. Metal blades appeared from the sleeve of his opponents cloak as he pulled his hand back to strike Naruto. The next second two opponents passed each other with a clash. Pein's body turned around and raised his eyebrow as the blades that were coming from his sleeve felt on the ground. His knuckle supoorted a long thin cut that was bleeding.

„Wind chakra ..... „

„You betcha!" Naruto smircked. „But there is more. Shadow clone jutsu!" The street was covered with over a thousand Narutos, and all charged with their blades blazing with wind chakra.

Pein's body spun on his heels and stretched his arms, sending a burst of small metal shards in every direction, destroying the front lines of the clones.

„Wind element: Air blades no jutsu." The clones behind Pein's body leaped aside as three barely visible wind blades passed. The first one was dodged, the second also and the last was jumped over as the figure dressed in the akatsuki cloak charged at the Naruto who perfomed the jutsu.

„Dance of blades!" the figure declared as several dozen blades began spinning around him connected with chakra strings. They created a barrier not letting the remaining clones attack and at the same time making those close dissapear in a puff of smoke. Suddenly the figure stopped as two hands appeared from the ground and grabbed his feet.

„Rasengan!" Naruto jumped forward into the created opening.

In one swift motion his opponent grabbed one of his blades and released himself from the grip and at the same time leaned back, letting Naruto pass over him.

„Death." Pein's body muttered as he thrust another blade up, piercing Naruto's chest.

„Don't count on it." Came a voice from behind as Naruto that just got killed dissapeared in a puff of smoke.

„Another clone?" Pein's body catwheeled out of the way and rolled over ending up on his feet. He then saw a wave of wind chakra sent by Naruto practically tear up the place he was at a secong ago.

„You resist...." Pein's body unbottoned his cloack. He now stood bare chested in front of Naruto until blades sprouted from all over his body, both shileding him and making every inch of his body a lethal weapon.

„... the power of a god." Naruto's opponent disposed of the remaining clones in a matter of seconds and now was before Naruto.

„face the wrath .." He didn't finish as both his hands were stopped by claws made of pure chakra.

„What? Fox got your toungue?" Naruto's eyes became slitted as he looked into the rinnegan. Naruto pushed the bladed hands back even though his opponent was struggeling to oppose. To his surprise the blonde ninja proved to be stronger. Naruto then spun around and used all his tails to hit Pein's body. Only two tails hit the target that twisted at unimaginable angle. The seven remaining tail hit the ground creating a long crack in the ground all the way back to the central square. Pein's body was sent into air, crashing into the building and then crashing his way through the roof. In mid air he flipped and landed on his feet on another roof, sending cracks in every direction as he did. Soon Naruto with his fox features was on the other end of the roof.

Claws clashed against blades. The fight went on. The tails lashed, the blades were swung, but both opponents now knew what to expect from each other and neither got hit even once. The only thing was, that Naruto, even with all his stamina was getting tired. The fox form took alot of chakra. His opponent on the other hand didn't even sweat and looked fresh. His attacks never got slower, never got any less precise. And slowly Naruto was pushed back. Finally his fox features began to loose shape. His opponent managed to cut off one of his chakra tails, making the form even more unbalanced.

„Aghh." Naruto slumped to his knee as he got hit in the leg. He looked up as his opponent raised his bladed hand for a finishing blow.

„Rasengan!" Naruto hit the stone roof he and his opponent were standing on. The next second they both fell down, crashed through the floor and ended up in a room on the third floor.

Pein's body stood up and saw Naruto down on his knees, his body shaking.

„My blades are poisoned boy. You will die in about a minute. But gods do not wait!" Pein's body pulled his hand back and then stepped forward lowering his fist, covered with blades onto Naruto's head.

Blood sprayed onto Naruto's face as his palm was pierced with a blade. But his fingers still gripped the knuckle of his opponent not letting him pull it back. Suddenly Pein's body saw a difference in the way Naruto was acting, he was no longer shaking and there was a massive amount of chakra gathering in his good hand. Suddenly a broken chair turned into a clone in a puff of smoke and began applying wind chakra to the jutsu forming in Naruto's hand.

„I am immune to poison and i heal really fast. A small gift from Kuubi. Now eat this!

WIND ELEMENT: RASENSHURIKEN!"

The walls and the remains of the roof were blown away as Naruto activated his jutsu to the fullest. And thrust it into his opponents chest.

„RAAAAAGGGGGHHHH!" Pein's body screamed as he was suddenly sent into the air, by the spinning ball of wind chakra that was drilling into his chest, reducing the blades coming out of his body to pure metallic dust. Once he was high in the air the jutsu exploded into the giant sphere of spinning wind chakra and in the middle of it a human figure was pierced by thousand upon thousands of wind blades every second. They were hitting every inch, every cell in his body, reducing the body to a heap of human shaped flesh. The power of the blast tore off the roofs of the sorroundnig buildings. Yugito and KillerBee even decided to get Raikage farther away as the sphere of spinning wind chakra expanded until a minute later slowly faded, leaving a hovering body in the middle that then began falling until landed on the nearly destroyed street with a loud 'thud'

„My name is Uzumaki Huuga Naruto, believe it." Naruto grinned sitting on the third floor of the half destroyed building.

Anre jumped at Pein and immidiately leaped aside. He felt like some invisible power has just passed mere inches away. Anre got closer again, but this time Pein dodged his daggers, until raising his palm. Anre felt as he was hit by a bull as he was sent flying across the street. His daggers were ripped from his grip. Pein jumped into the air and caught one of the spinning weapons. He landed and calmly observed the weapon as Anre swiftly got up.

„Hmmm." Pein looked up and suddenly the dagger shot out from his palm and went for Anre, whose eyes only widened when the blade went for him at the speeds impossible to dodge.

„You should pay attention to the battle." Pein leaped aside to avoid being sliced in half by a demon shuriken, while the figure hit by dagger turned to water. It was followed by another, but it stopped in mid air just before hitting Pein and then shot back at airbone Anre, who dissapeared in a puff of smoke, replaced by a log. Just then the demon shuriken that missed Pein was pulled from the ground by the metal wire it was attached to. An electrical pulse shot through it. The lethal spinning weapon launched towards Pein, blazing with electricity, until Pein pulled out a sword from beneath his cloak and sliced through the shuriken.

Pein turned around, facing Anre, who had the grass cutter in the reverse grip, the blade behind his back.

„_Why does he dodge? I saw him being able to simply push the threat away, but why does not he use it constantly, only every five seconds or so .... What if?"_

Anre charged and a fierce sword duel took place.

„_1,2,3,4,5 dodge, 1,2,3,4,5 jump, 1,2,3,4,5 get down ..." _

Pein frowned. Every time he attempted to use his ability his opponent avoided getting hit in the last moment.

Anre frowned aswell. He had enough trouble fighting a sword battle, but Pein's ability didn't allow him to pull of any combinations to try and atleast wound Pein.

After another attempt on hitting Anre Pein pulled another one blade and now was wielding two at a time.

Few strikes later Pein caught the 'grass cutter' with his blades, put in a cross shape. He pushed them forward trying to hit Anre, but the masked nin bent back, letting two blades come over his head. Pein then twisted his blades, ripping the 'grass cutter' out of Anre's hands.

Pein only blinked when his two blades the next second were stopped by what seemed to be wings made of chakra. Arne jumped into the air, feeling a still invisible force pass under him and spun around in mid air. For the first time Pein got hit. The spiked chakra tail sent him rolling on the ground, his cloak ripped on his shoulder and blood coming from a deep wound caused by one of the spikes on the tail. Pein rubbed his shoulder and looked surprised when he saw blood on his hand.

„Blood?"

„Water element: water chains no jutsu!" Anre touched the ground nad Pein was wrapped by chains made of water that appeared from the ground.

„POWER WORD ART: POWER WORD – DEATH!" Anre pulled out the scroll. His dragon features faded, feeding the chakra needed into the scroll. A spasm went through Pein's body, but ... he didn't go limp. He slowly opened his eyes, rinnegan still present.

„The god does not take orders!" Pein broke through the chains. But now he was no longer calm and stoic. His face had several emotions: anger, fear and confusion.

The jutsu took his toll on Anre, who slowly got up from his knees and charged at Pein as well, gathering chakra around his fist.

„SHOCKING FIST"

„DIVINE SHIELD."

Pein thrust his hands forward, meeting Anre' jutsu and trying to repell it. In a bright flash of light the jutsu broke into two seperate waves. The buildings both sides of the street got reduced to rubble, but the middle section remained untouched. Steam raised from the epicenter, where Anre's fist was just a small distance away from Pein's palms.

Pein looked up and saw Anre take a deep breath.

„I will not be denied." Pein made a pulling action by his arm and a smile crept over his face. Anre looked back and saw his own sword flying at him, already too close to dodge and ....... time stopped. Anre moved aside and his eyes glowing with purple scanned his own blade hovering in mid air, until the world came alive again. Pein's eyes widened when he saw a blade pass through an afterimage.

„Gahhh." Pein caughed out blood as he got pinned to the remains of a nearby wall by the sword through his upper chest section. His rinnegan faded revealing simple brown eyes. That was until Anre released the fire gathered in him onto the pinned Pein.

„But .... I am a god." Pein mumbled just before his voice and later scream of pain died in the roaring flames.

„The leaf has prevailed." Anre caughed out blood and fell face down on the ground, suffering from chakra exaustion.


	60. Chapter 60

Chapter 60. Not really the end.

„Keep quiet Kiba, it doesn't hurt that bad." Ino nagged Kiba. She found the Inuzuka and his partner several minutes ago. Pein and his body left few wounded, so she didn't use too much chakra and now was working an Kiba.

„Yeah? You try getting thrown through a brick wall, I'd like to see you then staying calm."

„Oh shut it, or i'll just use anastetic to put you to sleep."

„How are you feeling Neji-san?" Temari was healing the chakra burns on his hands. She has just fed the young Huuga a soldier pill.

„I'll live. Any information on how the others are?"

„No, but i don't hear any more sighns of battle."

„Then it is over, one way or another."

„We will see." Sasuke said, getting up from the sitting position. He had half of his face covered in bandages that already were showing three long blood stains. Temari patched him up as much as she could, but Sasuke would need further care.

„No offence Shino, but this is gross." Naruto said as he felt something crawl on his back.

„Relax. The ferment my bugs generate will break any traces of poison that might be left in your body."

„I already told that i am fine."

„I am not doing this for you."

„Huh?"

„Hinata will kill me if she finds out I didn't."

„Heh, fine, to ensure your survival I'll endure."

„Good, now stay still." Several more bugs crawled out of Shino's sleeves and jumped onto Naruto.

In a puff of smoke Sakura appeared in the nearly destroyed street. She saw something black on the ground.

„Thank god." She whispered as the diagnostic jutsu showed that Anre was suffering from serious chakra exaustion and nothing more. Other wounds were just minor cuts and bruises.

Suddenly she felt a presence and saw a woman with dark blue hair decorated with white flower appear in the street. She also wore the akatsuki cloak. She didn't look at Anre and Sakura, but walked towards the burned body still pinned to the wall. The smell of burnt flesh hit her nose as she got closer.

„Nagato." She shook her head and took the hilt of a still hot sword. Several small blades sprouted from the hilt, peircing her palm. The sword was resisting the hand other than his master's, but she still pulled it out, releasing the body and only then dropped the sword.

She then picked up the unrecognisible body of Pein and looked at Sakura who was aiming at her with an arrow.

„You have won." She said, tossing two rings to Sakura, before in a swirl of white paper she dissapeared together with the body.

A day later Raikage, KillerBee and Yugito stood at the broken gates of the cloud village. Before them stood the nine shinobi, several supported by their teammates.

„Well, I guess I have to thank you and Konoha for helping us."

„We had a personal interest aswell Raikage-sama, Akatsuki are a mutual enemy." Anre answered.

„yes, I agree, but still you did help us. So I will let you leave peacefully. I assure you that no threat will come to you from cloud shinobi."

„That is all we ask for. Good luck in repairing the village. Perhaps someday we will meet on the battlefield as allies." Anre said.

„Who knows?" Raikage shrugged and turned around followed by the wo cloud jinchuuriki.

............

Several weeks later.

............

„So it is confirmed?" Tsunade has just read the message sent by Jiraiya.

„Yes, it is." Shizune answered. „With their leader dead the remaining members of the akatsuki have left the organisation. I must add that there was not much organisation left, only two members. Deidara is being searched for by half of Rock's ANBU and will most likely be neutralised eventually. As for Zetsu, he is still a mystery, but he is not a threat to the village now that he is alone."

„Then this is settled. Take this to the archive." Tsunade stamped a large word 'Closed' over the name of the file 'Akatsuki.', and handed it to Shizune. „Put it with their rings."

...........

Several months later

...........

Two pairs stood in the open field outside the Konoha walls. They were facing a beatiful sunset, but they did not come here to enjoy the view.

„It is time." Anre said pulling up his sleeve.

„Yes, it is time." Naruto agreed and did the same.

„Summoning jutsu!" they both declared and in a puff of smoke two giant beast appeared, a dragon and a nine tailed fox.

„Summoner, I honor the contract." The dragon bowed down.

„Honor to meet you again Dalamar."

„Awww, do you have to be so polite and strict Dalamar?" Kuubi looked at the dragon his tails lashing behind him.

„Our traditions are to be preserved Kuubi." The dragon answered and turned back to Anre. „What do you want, summoner."

„Dalamar, i would like you to meet my wife, Rakizi Sakura, we gor married yesterday."

The dragon lowered his head and looked at the pink haired woman closely.

„I understand your wish, it is to be granted." The dragon breathed fire into the air and inth middle of flames a red scroll decorated with purple appeared and dropped before Sakura.

„The binding contract of the dragons. Sigh in blood."

Sakura nodded and unrolled the scroll. She bit her thumb and sighned her name, right after Anre's. Once she was finished the scroll dissapeared. The dragon roared as his chakra flared. A small fraction of it seperated and formed a shape of the human sized dragon that lowerd down to Sakura, who was looking at it with wide eyes. Sudenly it jumped at her and dissapeared inside her body. A spasm went through Sakura's body as chakra wings, claws and tail formed on her body. Her eyes turned purple and with a deep breath she breathed out fire into the air. Finally she slumped down to her knees, the dragon features fading. Anre placed his hand on her shoulder as she looked up at Dalamar.

„The dragons will honor the contract ... summoners!" Dalamar said before dissapearing.

„You alright?"

„Yeah, just the throat is a bit sore." She smiled at Anre and shakily stood up.

„Now, it is your turn." Naruto told hinata and looked at Kuubi. „Kuubi no kitsune. Meet my wife. Uzumaki Huuga Hinata."

„Hah, The kit has got a vixen." The giant fox sniffed air. „Smells nice too."

Hinata turned a bit red.

„Fine. Here you go." Kuubi lashed his tails and a scroll decorated with red flames appeared before Hinata. „You know the drill."

Hinata bit her thumb and repeated the procedure Sakura did. Just like before a chakra figure appeared, only now of a fox. It jumped inot Hinata and the girl immidiately got fox features made of chakra that soon faded.

„Heh. Enjoy." Kuubi dissapeared.

„How are you Hinata?" Naruto helped her up.

„I .. I think I am ok." She said and turned to Naruto. Her face now had the same whisker marks as Naruto, only a bit thiner.

Several days later Naruto was called to the hokage's office.

„Sit down Naruto."

„Anything wrong baa-chan?"

„Stop calling me that!!!! Ahem, now Naruto, the council decided that it is time for me to reveal to you your heritage."

„My what?"

„Yes, I will tell you who your parents were."

„You mean you knew all along and didn't tell me?"

„It was the fourth hokage, Minato Namikaze and Uzumaki Kushina of the hidden waterfall."

Naruto frose with open mouth and dropped back into the amchair."

„You are kidding?"

Tsunade only shook her head and pushed a file folder to Naruto. He opened and found all the proof there. Photos, documents, medical charts, everything.

„So what now?"

„Well, we must go through the paperwork to give the name Namikaze ... „

„I don't want that." Naruto mumbled.

„What?"

„I don't want that. I am not a Namikaze. For all these years I lived as an Uzumaki and then Uzumaki Huuga. That is who I am. That is who I am to my friends and to my enemyes. That is who I want to remain. I will always honor my parents and am thankful for revealing the truth, but my decition is final."

„You sure Naruto?"

„Yes, I am sure. I lived my life as an Uzumaki. It is who I am. Taking another name wold be like throwing all that happened away. Some of my life was not something pleasant to remember, but it also a part of me."

„I see." Tsunade went silent for a minute or so. „Fine, if that is how you want it, it will be done. But you are still the son of the fourth."

„So be it." Naruto looked out of the window and looked at the Hokage mountain, where the sculptors were adding Tsunade's face to the sculpture.

Tsunade sighed and closed the folder. She looked briefly at Naruto looking out of the window and for a moment, she was certain she saw two spectral figure standing both sides of Naruto. One was a woman with long reddish hair and another was a blonde man in the hokage's mantle.

At the same time, far away a woman with dark blue hair was standing over the grave. From behind and old man with white hair appeared and came up to her.

„How did he end up like this?"

„Power, it changes people, Jiraiya. You should know."

„What didn't you stop him?"

„You know, I was always the one to follow, not the one to be followed."

Jiraiya sighed. „And what now?"

She shrugged and kept looking at the grave.

„Then this is over." He said.

„Perhaps, you are right."

„If you ever need help, you know how to find me." Jiraiya slowly walked away.

„Or perhaps ..... you are wrong." Her hand slowly rubbed her stomack and a small smile appeared on her face.

„Very wrong." A man standing on the hill overlooking the scene that just accured. He closed his eyes. Once he opened them they had the mangekyo sharingan in them. „Very, very wrong."

THE END


End file.
